Old Friends, New Enemies
by Sergeant McKnight
Summary: Sparks fly when Tigress discovers a old friend of hers living within the Valley of Peace, a old friend who broke a promise back at the Orphanage, and left a emotional wound that has yet to heal. But when they get a chance to start anew, will she take it?
1. Prologue

**A/N:** This is my first Fanfic [well, first one to be published, anyways...] so please, give me a little leeway for error! I know I've made mistakes and I've got flaws in it that I didn't see. Also, I did my best to play cub Tigress in character, and I think I came fairly close.

Anyhoo, please drop by reviews! Criticism, especially of the constructive sort, is very welcome!

**Disclaimer:** I own nary a thing, save for my OC's, Jiang and Yi Shan, along with the Temple of The Singing Blades. [Crappy name for a temple, I know. It was what came to mind, though.]

_**Bao Gu Orphanage, twenty years ago…**_

"Aw, c'mon, Tigress! One more game?" The other tiger cub, a male, asked from his seat on the far side of the small table he and young Tigress were seated at. "We've been playing this silly game of yours all day! Can't we do something else?" She replied with a laugh. "Checkers isn't a silly game… But, you're right, I guess we could use a break." He said, running a paw through the thick fur covering the top of his head, then turning and sliding off his rough wooden stool and onto his paws.

Tigress grinned and hopped off her stool, then zipped around the table to the taller cub's side. "Do you think we could play hide-and-seek, Jiang?" She asked, beaming up at him. Jiang was a Amur tiger, and at seven years old, he was roughly a year older than her. The cub stood a good three inches over Tigress, and like her, possessed remarkable strength for his size. Unlike her, though, the boy was fully aware of his strength, and never failed to keep it in check. Ever since Jiang had been brought to the Orphanage three years ago, the pair of tiger cubs had been inseparable.

"Sure, Tigress! You hide first! I'll count to a hundred, then I'll come for ya!" The boy immediately turned and marched to the nearest wall, where he stood facing it, paws covering his eyes. "One… Two… Three…"

Tigress was out the door of the small room, down the hall, and off to find a hiding place, all before her friend finished saying 'Three'. She made her way to the kitchen, which, thanks to the fact that it was late evening and past suppertime, was utterly empty. She poked her nose around for a few moments, then decided that she'd hide best in the closet-sized pantry. She stealthily slid open the door, then ducked inside the pantry and shut the door.

The striped feline unsheathed her claws and ascended the wooden walls to the very top shelf of the pantry, where nothing but empty sacks were kept, as it was out of reach of the rabbit cook. She tucked herself into the shelf, confident that she would be well hidden within the darkness of her hiding place.

"Fifty-one, fifty-two, fifty-three, fifty… Huh?" Jiang cut himself off when he felt a gentle tap on his shoulder. He let his own paws fall to his sides as he turned around to face whoever was in the room with him.

His guest was a huge black panther, standing at about six foot five and possessing a powerful frame and dark green eyes, making him a very imposing figure to the young cub in front of him. He wore dark red slacks and a matching vest, which was beautifully embroidered along the collar and arms, and had the image of a dragon coiling about itself embroidered upon the back in black. A traditional bronze Jian, a double-edged Chinese longsword, was nestled into a leather holster upon his back, indicating that this man was a warrior.

"Who are you?" Jiang asked, pressing his back into the wall out of fear of the man. The panther paused a moment, then knelt down and mustered up a small smile. "My name is Master Yi Shan. I am here to take you to the Temple of the Singing Blades, young one."

"Bu…. But…." The boy was shocked. He wanted to be adopted, but he had promised Tigress that when he was adopted, he'd take her with him. In return, she had promised that if she was ever adopted, she would make sure that he came with her. At the absolute least, he wanted to tell her what was happening. "Can… Can I bring Tigress with me? Or at least tell her where I'm going?" He pleaded with the warrior kneeling in front of him.

"No, little one. I have room for only one more at the Temple. And we have many miles to travel before the night is out, and so we must leave now. But do not worry, you may send this 'Tigress' as many letters as you want." The panther assured him. Before further argument could be had from Jiang, the man rose to his feet and gently ushered him along, out the door. "But I promised!" He protested, even as he was ushered to his room, where he was given a bag to place his few personal belongings into. But the panther didn't seem to hear him, for he simply had Jiang finish gathering his things, then he led the cub downstairs, and straight out the front gates of Bao Gu.

Tigress stayed in that pantry for nearly three hours before she got bored and came out to search for Jiang. After searching the floor she had hidden on, she headed up to Jiang's room, and poked her nose in. It had never been well furnished, bearing only a mattress laying on the floor with a few sheets tossed over it, a crudely constructed table tucked into one corner with a equally shoddy chair slid into it, and having a single dresser, upon which Jiang had placed his diary, a few ancient but well-cared for action figures, and every gift she had ever given him, ranging from a tiny doll she had found to a collection of smooth and beautifully colored rocks she had plucked from a nearby stream.

But now it was even more poorly furnished, thanks to the absence of those few precious items that her cubhood friend had possessed. "Jiang?" She called into the room, hoping he'd pop out of nowhere, just like he normally did.

Instead, the only thing that answered her was silence. Heavy, unbearable silence. She stood there, staring into the room, for several more moments. "Excuse me, little one." A sheep said, scooting past her and into the room. "I've got to clean this room. What with that tiger adopted, it's going to go to one of the other Orphans." The fellow said, whipping out a feather duster, and going to work, not once noticing the utterly stunned expression playing out upon the girl's face.

_But he promised! He promised he'd take me with him! _She thought frantically, as she headed away from the room, wandering aimlessly about the orphanage. _He broke his promise… Why? Why'd he do that to me!? No! It has to be some mistake, Jiang wouldn't leave! We're best friends! _Tigress did her very best to console herself, but to no avail. Tiny tears slipped from the corners of the little one's eyes, as she finally came to grips with the harsh reality of the situation.

Jiang was gone, and he hadn't kept his promise.

And now she was alone at Bao Gu. Her only friend was gone.

**/-\**

"Tigress? Sister, are you OK?"

Tigress awoke to the combination of Master Viper's voice, and a gentle shake as her serpent companion used her tail to nudge her shoulder.

The feline master slowly nodded and sat up in her bed, rubbing her eyes with one paw. "Yes, Master Viper, I am fine. It was nothing." She said, hugging her blanket to her torso with one paw, a unnecessary act, since she was wearing a nightgown.

"Are you certain? You were tossing and turning, and muttering something. You've never done that before." Viper persisted. "It was little more than a dream, Viper, and dreams are meaningless. It was nothing."

The snake sighed and nodded, then slithered off Tigress's bed. "If you say so, sister." She replied, before slithering out the wood-and-paper door, flicking it shut behind her with her tail.

Once she was long gone, Tigress sighed and fell back in bed, letting a heavy sigh escape her. She had a extraordinary sense of time, and right now, she guessed that she had a hour before the morning gong rang. Since there was no way she was getting back to sleep, she [somewhat reluctantly] picked herself up out of bed, washed her face, dressed, and made her way to the training hall.

She needed to do something, anything, to get the events of her that horribly vivid replay of that depressing childhood memory out of her mind. And destroying a small army of training dummies seemed like just the right way to do that.

[Yes, it's short, but it's just the start. More to come, and soon!]


	2. Chapter 1

**A/N: **Well, it's been pretty much forever in a day since I updated this. I thought I'd have this chapter ready sooner, but life decided to go haywire on me, and I've been too busy to work on this.

Anyways, about this chapter… I know that Tigress may not be in-character enough for some, but I hope she's close enough to satisfy most readers. And some parts near the end may be a bit rough, but my beta reader copped out on me a couple nights ago and I am not going to sit around and wait for the silly bastard to take a minute and help me with this. God knows how long it'd take for me to update if I worked on my beta's schedule.

Oh, yeah, I almost forgot. Here is the one, the only, the infamous and much-despised…

**DISCLAIMER!: **I do not own Kung Fu Panda and its characters or Dreamworks. If I did I would be paying someone else to write this for me so could sit back and devise a method to pair up Tigress with Tai Lung in the sequel. I do, however, own my OC's Jiang, Yi Shan, and any other OC's and original locations that I have devised, and I will be madder than a bat outta hell if you steal. SO DON'T STEAL, OR I'LL SICK BRUCIE KIBBUTZ ON YOU! [Don't know who Brucie is? Go play GTA IV. Look for the steroid-pumped fantasist, as Niko calls him.]

Now, without further ado, here's 10,000+ words for you to read! Hope you enjoy it, and as always, constructive criticism is very welcome!

Chapter 1:

Master Tigress let out a infuriated snarl as she landed a powerful open-palm blow on the center of the wooden training dummy, shattering it into two large chunks and numerous toothpick size shards. Before it could even fall to the ground, the feline warrior had set in on another dummy, decapitating it with a powerful hook kick that sent it's 'head' section flying off, and crashing into another dummy with great force, knocking it over.

A fourth, then a fifth, then a sixth dummy fell, all being ripped asunder in a matter of moments by their mortal enemy, Tigress.

Master Viper, coiled midway around one of the two pillars nearest the entrance of the hall, watched her friend kick, punch, chop, and slash her way through the gauntlet of wooden warriors, making enough kindling to keep the cooking fires going for months in the process.

_She is most certainly not fine. _Viper decided, sighing as she continued to gaze on as Master Tigress tore a pair of arms off one dummy, then proceeded to use the oak appendages as impromptu clubs to bash in the 'face' of another dummy.

The serpent uncoiled herself and slid down the column, then slithered along one of the hand rails that kept visitors from falling into the Gauntlet of Wooden Warriors that lay in the 'pit' in the center of the hall. While she had no wish to make her presence known, and risk the wrath of her friend, she knew that Tigress would only end up hurting herself if she continued to make wood chips out of the dummies at her current rate.

"Tigress!" She called out, pausing once she reached the center of the rail, the part where Tigress was closest. "I am in no mood to talk, Viper!" The feline snapped back, launching a straight kick at a dummy's middle set of arms, then dropping low and blocking it and the lowest set of arms as they spun in response to her assault.

She rose up, and cocked back her arm to send a simple but effective punch flying into it's torso, but in her emotion-driven state, she failed to notice the spinning top arms, right until one of the metal-studded wooden appendages impacted harshly with her right cheek, knocking her back.

The feline swore under her breath and paused a moment, standing up straight and bringing a paw to her stinging cheek. When she brought it away, her fur was stained with bright crimson blood.

By now, Viper had come her way, and had coiled herself about the dummy, seizing its arms with her body in the process and rendering it immobilized. "Now are you in the mood to talk, my stubborn friend?" She asked, her trademark smile no longer present on her face as she first made a visual inspection of the scratch adorning Tigress's cheek, then turned her gaze upwards to the pair of fiery irises staring back at her.

Tigress narrowed her eyes for a moment, but then she sighed and let her shoulders and head hang in defeat. "Fine. What is it you want?"

It was now that the other master allowed a faint ghost of a smile onto her face. "I want the truth, sister. What is bothering you?"

"If something was bothering me, and nothing is, then it would be none of your concern, Viper." The striped warrior retorted, folding her arms over her chest and forcing herself to ignore the laceration on her cheek.

Viper smiled faintly at Tigress, and paused a few moments before replying. "If that were the truth, then you would not be here, destroying the training hall piece by piece. Now again, and the truth this time."

"It-is-none-of-your-concern." Tigress hissed, turning and marching off towards the entrance of the Training Hall.

When she was absolutely certain that the feline was well out of earshot, Viper let out a low whistle. "I better go talk to the others about this." She said to herself, sliding down the dummy, and zipping off to the barracks.

Once back at the barracks, Viper's first stop was Crane's room. Master Crane was something of a mediator for the rest of the Five, as he was able to remain impartial even when Viper herself was taking sides, and her was the second most compassionate and understanding of them, after Viper. If anyone could help her form a strategy to figure out what was wrong with Tigress, it was him.

She knocked once on his door, then slipped in, sliding it shut behind her once inside. The avian was practicing his calligraphy, like he always seemed to be doing in his scant free time. "Morning Viper!" He said cheerfully, setting down his brush and looking up at his serpent friend.

"Good morning, Crane." She replied, coiling up on a mat near the door. "Have you noticed anything… Oh, I don't know… Off with Tigress here lately?" She asked, momentarily unsure of how to start the conversation.

The bird was momentarily puzzled by her question, his expression made that plain, but he quickly recovered, and offered up a answer. "Nope. Well, wait… On second thought, yeah. She was very short with Po and Monkey yesterday when she caught them talking about the Festival taking place this weekend. She was furious because they were talking while they were sweeping out the hall. I don't have any idea why she was mad. She's never been angry about such a thing before."

"Something's bothering her." Viper said. "I don't know what, but something is eating at her, and she's refusing to deal with it. I tried talking to her, but she just snapped at me and stormed off."

"Maybe Po walked in on her while she was in the bathing room?" Crane suggested.

"Possibly, but if that were the case, I think we would have had to bury him by now. No, this is something else. But I don't know what! As far as I know, nothing's happened to cause this." Viper replied, sounding very distressed. She and Tigress, being the only females at the Jade Palace, were very close friends, and seeing Tigress in her current state upset the snake to no end.

"What about that blind date you set up for her? With that serval fellow from the Village? Could that have caused it?"

"Oh gods, don't remind me of that… I think the poor man is still healing up from that…" Viper groaned, covering her face with her tail. "But no. Tigress pummeled him, and got all her anger towards that particular feline out of her system."

"Well, as much as I hate to suggest it, maybe her diary would yield some answers, if she will not." Crane stated. A sheepish grin crossed his beak at the utterly shocked expression that appeared on Viper's face the moment he stopped speaking. "I've been hanging around Monkey." The avian master explained.

A smile crept onto Viper's face once again, accompanied by a soft laugh, which she made a attempt to contain by placing the tip of her tail over her lips. "Well, that explains everything. But it hasn't come to that yet. I'll talk to the others, see what they have to say about it. But if all else fails, then I guess we'll 'borrow' her diary for a bit." She said.

The snake master paused a moment, then continued. "I was going to ask Po, Mantis, and Monkey if they knew what was going on, but I think they're going to be pretty clueless. I'm going to go ask Master Shifu. Would you warn the others to steer clear of Tigress for a bit?"

"Sure. Just, uh… Shifu? It'd almost be safer to steal Tigress's diary than to go directly to Master Shifu…" Crane said, shifting his weight from one side to the other nervously.

"I'll ask him to keep a lid on our conversation. After all, What Tigress doesn't know won't hurt, kill, or maim the rest of us." The snake replied.

Crane nodded, then sidled over to his straw hat, laying on the floor next to him. "Well, I'll go warn the others… I'd bet that Master Shifu is at the Hall of Heroes. Check there first."

"Thanks Crane. See you later!" Viper replied, sliding the door open once again, and slipping out.

While Crane and Viper were talking, Tigress was making her way down the enormous flight of stairs leading down from the Jade Palace and to the Village. It was against the rules to leave the Palace without both a good reason and having left at least a note informing the others where one was going and when they'd be back, but the feline needed to get away.

Viper meant well, but there was nothing she or anyone else at the Palace could do for Tigress. She needed to get out, to be away from everyone at the Palace for awhile so she could think, and not be questioned about her emotions.

It did not take her long to reach the bottom of the stairs, where she stood staring into the village for several moments. It was surprisingly busy, which was not what she had expected. Normally, the village was very quiet early in the morning, with only shopkeepers being out and about, preparing for the day to come.

But not this day. Everyone was out in full force. Villagers bustled about the streets, buying multitudes of items from traveling traders and the local merchants, and there was a veritable army of carpenters moving through the streets, their pelts dusted a light tan from sawdust and wood chippings. Along with the carpenters were numerous other workers, ranging from painters to blacksmiths, and even a few of the fellows who made the fireworks for the New Years Festival.

It took her a moment to realize why the village was so alive and buzzing with activity. There was a Festival that the village Historian had organized. What it was designed to celebrate she didn't know. Tigress vaguely remembered Po telling her what it was all about, but she had not paid much attention to him at the time. Now she wished she had.

_I picked a bad day to come down to the Village… _She thought, finally willing her legs to propel her into the village. Thankfully, many people were in such a rush that they failed to notice her, and the few who did spot the famous master were unable to push through the crowds to pester her.

While Tigress was somewhat curious as to what the festival was about, she was not about to stop one of the passing workers and ask. Instead, the stressed feline padded down a small side street away from the crowd, passing by several vendors without giving them or the wares they were peddling a second glance.

Her objective was a small teahouse, settled on the bank of the small river that ran through town, and nestled between a somewhat popular restaurant, and a shop that sold rare food items brought in from the Imperial City.

She came to the teahouse whenever she needed to have a quiet place where she could collect herself, relax, and generally be left alone for a extended period of time. And since the place was only crowded on the weekends, or on Festival days, she felt it was safe to assume that there would be only one or two others there.

Tigress ducked inside the teahouse and headed to her usual spot, a booth tucked into a corner near the back wall. The lighting was, as usual, fairly dim, and tinted red thanks to the red paper of the lanterns. She enjoyed the lighting; it gave the place a more exotic atmosphere, in her opinion.

She settled into the booth and got herself comfortable. A quick glance around told her that her suspicion was correct. The place was mostly empty, save for the young rabbit man responsible for brewing the tea, and the owner of the place, a older female tortoise by name of Lin, who was known to frequently play matchmaker for those who came into her little shop. Thankfully, she had yet to try to pair Tigress with anyone.

Lin made her way over to Tigress's chosen location, a piece of chalk and a notepad-sized square piece of slate in her hands. "Hello Master Tigress!"

"Hello Lin." Tigress replied, placing her paws on the edge of the table and watching as the tortoise approached. The brown eyed, jade-shelled teahouse owner was looking as chipper as ever, a bright smile on her face. "What can I get for you this morning? The usual?"

"That would be perfect, Lin." She said, her feminine face wearing that perfectly emotionless expression of hers.

Tigress waited patiently as the tortoise sped off to prepare 'the usual', which was a simple cup of black tea, with one cube of sugar. To keep herself busy as her tea brewed -which would take some time- Tigress allowed her amber eyes to glance about the establishment once again, visually examining the few other patrons. All three of them.

_It's a shame that this place is not drawing in a bigger crowd. It has the best tea in the village. _The feline master thought, placing her hands atop one another and resting them on the tabletop and letting a sigh escape her lips.

Aside from that solitary thought, the only thing Tigress noted was how each of them were regulars. One of the three other patrons was a Ram, who she knew to be one of the village tailors. She had visited his store once, when she had torn her favorite vest. He did excellent work, but he was very timid. Reminded her too much of her caregiver from Bao Gu Orphanage.

The other was a rabbit, a carpenter who had worked at the Jade Palace in the past. She did not enjoy his company at all. The white-furred woodworker talked faster than anyone else she knew, and he just wouldn't keep quiet. He was easily the most annoying person she had ever met. She could not complain about his work, though. He was a decent, if unimaginative and expensive, carpenter.

The final patron she did not recognize. He was a tiger, and if her guess was correct, he was an Amur tiger. It was likely that he was the only one of his kind within a hundred miles. He was quite handsome, with fairly ornate facial markings and almost totally black ears with narrow, almost rectangular, white markings roughly centered upon his furry ears. A cheery, if somewhat tired, smile adorned his muzzle, indicating that he was in a good mood.

As her eyes traveled down his body, she noted that he wore the clothes of a manual laborer: a simple white shirt with the sleeves rolled up to his biceps, and light brown work pants. Upon his feet he wore sturdy leather sandals, likely to protect the pads of his feet from the harsh ground of a job site. He had broad shoulders and muscular arms; and overall, a powerful build. Yet he wasn't 'ripped', no, his body was more on the toned side. While she couldn't tell how exactly tall he was since he was sitting down, she would be willing to guess that he stood just a inch or two over six feet tall, which would put him at three inches taller than herself. Underneath his richly colored pelt, thick bands of muscle were clearly visible, telling her that the tiger possessed great strength. There were smatterings of sawdust strewn over his pelt and clothing, and she noted that he looked to be a little on the tired side, like he had been working for quite some time.

Chances are that he was one of the hapless artisans who had been hired by the village magistrate responsible for ensuring that the festival happened on time. According to Viper, the Magistrate had been running everyone he had hired into the ground in a desperate race against time, which would explain his somewhat weary appearance.

By now, her tea had been brewed, and unknown to her, Lin was bringing the cup and saucer her way. The Kung-Fu Master was jolted from her observations on the other tiger when that melodious voice of Lin's floated her way, signaling the tortoise's approach.

"If you were wondering, no, I don't have a single clue as to that tiger's identity. All I know is that he lives in the village, somewhere near the river, and that he's a carpenter." She said, taking note of the younger feline's visual fixation upon the unknown male.

Tigress hurriedly tore her gaze from the male, focusing her eyes upon the tortoise instead. "My tea?" She asked, wishing to avoid any potentially embarrassing questions that might crop up as a result of her brief visual examination of the other tiger. She knew Lin, and if that wily old tortoise thought for a moment that she and whoever that tiger was would be a match, she would set them up. Though logically, if Lin had no idea who the tiger was, it was improbable she would attempt such a thing. That thought never entered Tigress's mind, and as such, steering as far away from the subject of the tiger, and any mention of men in general, seemed to be the safest possible course of action for her to take.

Lin nodded in response to Tigress's earlier question, then set the white china teacup down atop it's saucer in front of her. "Just the way you like it, Master Tigress." She said, a smile stretching across her face. "Be careful, it's quite hot!"

Lin's warning was unnecessary; Tigress knew better than to so much as sip at tea as hot as this was. Her fingers tenderly wrapped around the delicate handle of the tea cup and hoisted it into the air, holding it several inches below and in front of her muzzle, but nothing more. "I know, Lin. But thank you for watching out for me." The feline replied, in a uncommon show of gratitude from her, which was accompanied by a equally rare smile.

"Well then, Tigress, I shall leave you to your tea. Holler if you need something!"

And with that, Lin headed off, likely to tend to some other patron's needs, or to ensure that the fellow responsible for brewing the tea didn't make a mistake.

The feline's eyes tracked Lin for a brief moment, before flicking back to the tiger she had been eyeing earlier. He seemed to be less tired now, probably because of the caffeine in his tea. _He's very attractive, that much is certain. _She thought, lapsing back into staring at the Amur tiger. She gazed on as the male lightly gripped his teacup and took a sip, ears twitching slightly as the hot liquid hit his tongue.

As he set down the teacup, he seemed to notice her, for the tiger turned his attention towards her. That same cheerful smile he had upon his face earlier crept back onto his muzzle as they locked gazes, and he gave a small bow of his head in greetings.

Tigress, unsure of what she should do, allowed a small smile to creep onto her face once more, and gave a brief wave of her paw, before turning her gaze downwards to her tea again. _I feel like such a fool! Giving that little wave and smile like some kind of giddy schoolgirl! _She mentally berated herself, at the same time taking a tentative sip of tea. It was hot, yes, but not hotter than her cheeks, which were positively burning in embarrassment.

She was furious with herself; she had not acted in such a way since she was a young teen! And here she was, four days shy of twenty-six years old, leader of the Furious Five, and a Master of no less than eight hundred and fifty-three of the Thousand Scrolls! She would not, no, could not allow herself to act in such a manner!

And yet, something found her gaze returning ever so briefly to the male, whose soft brown eyes were looking right back at her, that smile still upon his face. Again, Tigress directed her gaze back down to the teacup held within her left paw, and once again, she chastised herself for submitting to whatever urge or emotion was responsible for spawning her interest in him.

She took another sip of her tea, and forced herself to dispel all trains of thought even distantly relating to that tiger, replacing them with the singular thought of what she would say to Viper when she returned.

She had snapped at her closest friend, and guilt over that had finally set in. If there was anyone in the world she could talk to freely about what was bothering her, it was the only other female member of the Furious Five. The absolute last thing she needed, aside from Lin trying to find her a mate, was Viper to be angry with her.

Perhaps a simple, straightforward apology would be best, especially if it was accompanied by a brief explanation of her troubles. That would hopefully earn her Viper's forgiveness.

A few more minutes passed as she polished off the remnants of her tea and mused on just what she would say to Viper when she returned. Master Tigress was utterly oblivious to the world around her, even Lin's less-than-stealthy approach to her table.

"Would you like some more tea, Master Tigress?" The tortoise asked, clasping her hands together and awaiting the feline's answer. "No, but thank you. I really should get going." She replied, reaching for a tiny pouch fastened to the left side of the belt wrapped about her waist, and extracting from it two bronze coins.

"Oh, there's no need to pay. That young tiger paid for you, and left enough for you to have another cup!" Lin exclaimed, before Tigress could even place the coins upon the table.

"Really?"

Lin nodded in response, beaming at Tigress. "He did. Also said he'll be here again tonight at dusk, and again tomorrow morning, if you wish to meet him."

Tigress gave a moment's pause as she turned her gaze towards the table where the striped feline had been sitting but a few minutes ago. He was long gone, his table cleared off and cleaned for the next patron. "Well then… Perhaps I will return tonight and thank him." She slipped out of the booth and rose to her paws after the final syllable left her lips, amber eyes returning to look down at the slightly shorter Lin.

"Then I will see you later, Master Tigress. Have a good day!" The aged tortoise replied, once again turning and heading off to perform some unknown duty.

She waited until Lin was well out of sight, then headed towards the door. She had to fight to keep a excited smile from appearing upon her muzzle. _Finally, a man who isn't terrified of me! I wonder what it'll be like to actually meet him in person! I just hope he's not some fan boy like Po… _

The tigress pushed her way outside, then started to retrace her steps along the same path she had used to proceed to the teahouse earlier in the day. Now she just wanted to apologize to Viper, and press through the day, so that she could meet with this mystery tiger.

The return journey to the Jade Palace felt like it took only moments. Tigress wasted no time in ascending the steps back to the Palace. She arrived several minutes after the Gong had rang, but it was of no concern to her. This was the first time in fifteen years that she had been late to morning training, and so surely Master Shifu would have some mercy upon her…

Then again, knowing Shifu as well as she did, that was extremely unlikely. But she clung stubbornly to the hope that the impossible would happen, for it was the only way she could meet that tiger at dusk.

Once within the walls of the Jade Palace, Tigress decided not to join her companions in the training hall, but rather, to head directly to the Hall of Heroes and seek out Master Shifu. It would be best to make a hasty apology for her absence immediately, rather than dally, and risk fanning the flames of his wrath.

It took mere seconds for the speedy feline to reach the massive and ancient double doors that made up the entrance to the Hall, which she easily pushed open. She made sure to slowly close the mighty barriers behind her, lest they slam shut, and disturb Shifu.

Once they were closed, she headed for the Pool of Reflections, where she assumed him to be. Her assumption was correct, standing with hands clasped behind his back in front of the pool, with Master Viper coiled up in front of him.

Wait, Master Viper?

Tigress looked again, and no, her eyes had not deceived her. Her scaled companion was speaking to Shifu. She froze in mid-step, roughly halfway between the entrance and the Pool of Reflections, both ears rotating forwards.

Before she could begin eavesdropping though, the feline stopped herself, and resumed walking forwards, albeit at a much slower pace than before. She didn't want to listen in on her closest friend and her Master, after all.

Still, as she drew closer, those sensitive ears of hers couldn't help but pick up snippets of their conversation.

"Do not worry yourself, Master Viper. It was a long time ago, I am certain Tigress has let the matter go." Shifu stated calmly. "I hope so. I don't see how she could go back and reconcile this issue with… What did you say her friend's name was again?"

"She never told me. All I know is that he was a tiger, and only a bit older than her."

Viper let out a soft sigh and smiled faintly. "Well… I suppose all we can do is give her time and hope that whatever is bothering her now doesn't have anything to do with this old friend of hers."

By now, Tigress was but fifteen feet away. After deciding it was time to announce her presence, the feline softly cleared her throat once, to capture their attention. "Good morning Master Shifu, Master Viper." She said quietly, placing her right fist into her left palm and bowing towards them.

"Oh, uh, hello Master Tigress!" Viper replied, doing her best to plaster a smile onto her face to hide her surprised and embarrassed expression. "Master Shifu and I were just discussing…"

"Master Viper had some questions about your past. That is what we were discussing." Shifu said, not bothering to even attempt to sugarcoat the subject.

Tigress already knew the answer, but still, it was somewhat comforting to know that they weren't trying to hide the discussion about her past. At least, Shifu wasn't.

"Oh? What sort of questions?" Tigress asked, pretending to be mildly surprised.

"I was wondering if there was anything in your past that might explain whatever was in your dream that you had this morning. It bothered you greatly and I was concerned." Viper answered, a touch of embarrassment in her voice. Clearly, she had not wanted the striped warrior to know of the conversation she had been having with Master Shifu.

"And I answered her question truthfully and to the best of my knowledge." Shifu added, calm expression not wavering in the least.

Tigress paused for a moment, eyes gazing back and forth between Master Shifu and Viper. After what felt like a eternity, the feline master spoke. "My past is private. It is my right, and mine alone, to decide whether or not to inform others of my days at Bao Gu, and any other events of my life." She stated, her voice calm, but a hint of anger carried with her words.

Now it was Shifu's turn to pause. He had expected Tigress to be silently furious with both him and Viper, but he had certainly not expected her to tell them to keep their noses out of her life. Which is, essentially, what she had just done. It surprised him that she would put to words those thoughts that she normally would keep to herself.

And so, he decided to take the safest course of action. "I… Apologize, Master Tigress." He finally said, a hint of uncertainty in his voice. "Master Viper, why don't you go join the others in the Training Hall… Master Tigress, I am certain that it is your turn to spend the day meditating at the Sacred Peach Tree."

In truth, it was Po's turn to Meditate at the very peach tree that Master Oogway had once graced with his presence, but experience told Shifu that a angry Tigress didn't play well with others. It was best for the rest of them if she had time alone to calm down.

By now, Viper had taken her chance to escape, and had eagerly slithered directly to the doors of the Hall of Heroes, and was soon well on her way to the Training Hall, leaving Masters Tigress and Shifu alone within the hall.

"But… It's Po's turn." Tigress protested. She wasn't one for meditating at the Sacred Peach Tree. It had been a different story when Oogway was alive, but now that the wise old tortoise was no longer among the living, the simple act of setting foot near the Tree reminded her that the shelled master was deceased. That made it immensely difficult for her to clear her mind there, let alone actually meditate.

Shifu simply smiled at Tigress. "Are you so sure, Tigress?"

"Yes, I am…. I mean, no… I'm going…"

Defeated, Tigress turned, and started padding towards the entrance, ears flattened against her skull in frustration. Shifu began to sit down cross-legged, to meditate, when she paused and turned halfway around to face him again.

"Master Shifu, I just remembered, I need to be in the village before dusk. I'm meeting someone."

"So long as you don't break anything, or anyone, you have my permission."

Shifu replied, closing his eyes, and settling into 'Meditate Mode', as Po called it.

If his eyes had been opened, he would have seen Tigress's face brighten considerably as a excited smile blossomed across her muzzle, just before she turned and zipped directly out of the hall.

The moment the heavy door clanged shut behind her, Tigress bolted towards the Training Hall. She was faster than Viper, and despite her anger over her serpent friend asking Shifu about her past, she still wished to apologize.

"Viper! Wait up!" Tigress called out, as the shimmering green and black scales of her companion came into view. Viper hesitated for a split second, then coiled up and turned her head to bring the other warrior into her vision. "Sister, I'm sorry about going to Shifu, but I was worried about you."

"No, it's fine. I suppose I should've told you myself. I'm not angry about your concern, just that you spoke to Master Shifu and not me."

"Well, you weren't exactly in a talkative mood this morning, Tigress. But you seem rather cheerful now… Did your trip to the Village have anything to do with that?

Tigress nodded and allowed a small smile to appear upon her muzzle. "Yes, and I'll explain, but first, I want to apologize for how I treated you this morning. I was angry over nothing, and I lashed out at you because of it. I'm sorry."

"It's all right, sister. Now tell me, what happened in the village to put a smile on your face?" Viper replied, a smile of her own appearing upon her lips.

"Well, I wanted to be alone so I could think, so I went to Lin's Teahouse."

"You went to a teahouse? Teahouses aren't usually a very quiet place to be." Viper interjected.

"I know. But if you let me finish, you'll understand." Tigress stated.

"Oh, right. Sorry."

"So, like I was saying, I went to Lin's Teahouse. It's very quiet because it draws a rather small crowd. To me, it was the perfect place to brace myself for the coming day. Not counting the tea steeper and the owner, there were four people there, including myself.

After I ordered and got settled in, I became bored while waiting for my tea to steep. So I examined the other patrons. Two of them weren't very interesting, but the third guy… Wow." Tigress cut herself off as she remembered the physical appearance of that tiger.

"Wow what?" Viper asked, now thoroughly intrigued by Tigress's story, and curious as to what sort of male could actually make Tigress grin and go 'wow'.

"The third guy was the most handsome male I've ever seen. He's a Amur Tiger, around six feet high, with a powerful build, beautiful soft brown eyes, a great smile, a gorgeous pelt, and…" She cut herself off when she heard a small giggle from Viper. "Is this funny?"

"I just never imagined that I'd ever hear you talk about a male like that." She replied, grinning at Tigress.

The striped cat paused for a moment, then smiled back. "Ah. Anyways… This tiger paid for my tea, and extended a invitation for me to meet him back at the teahouse tonight, at dusk!"

"So did you get a name out of him, along with a invitation?"

"No, he both paid and extended the invitation by going through Lin, the teahouse owner. I think it was so that I couldn't really refuse his offer. Besides, judging by how he both made eye contact with me, and smiled at me, I'd say that he's not timid."

Viper nodded, taking a moment to process all the new information. _So Tigress is actually going to go on a date without me pressuring her… Amazing. This guy better not do anything to make her regret showing her more feminine side, or there won't be a place in the Valley he can hide from me! _She thought. "Then I won't keep you from whatever duties Shifu has placed upon your shoulders today. I'm sure you want to get them over with so you can have some time to prepare to meet this mystery tiger of yours…"

The mention of preparing for this date of hers clearly struck Tigress as odd, judging by the expression upon the feline's face, which clearly read 'Huh?'. "Oh boy… You've forgotten everything I taught you. Just meet me at my room a couple hours before Dusk and I'll get you ready…" Viper sighed, smiling and shaking her head as she uncoiled and slipped away, before Tigress could protest.

"Prepare?" Tigress repeated, head tilted slightly to the side as she watched her comrade slip away to the training hall. The meaning of the word hit her once Viper was well out of sight and earshot. Viper intended to 'pretty her up' once again. That meant a dress, a touch of makeup, and grooming. Lots of grooming. On it's own, each of the three elements of preparation for the date weren't bad. But thrown together, and Tigress immensely disliked them. Now if she could just groom her pelt and wear whatever she felt comfortable, and covered, in, then she'd be fine.

A sigh escaped Tigress's lips as she turned and padded off towards the Sacred Peach Tree, to get started with her meditation. The one consoling thought that came to mind was that once she started meditating, time would seem to fly, and so from her perspective, it would take no time at all for dusk to start to fall.

_I can't wait… _She thought, as her long strides quickly carried her through the Jade Palace and towards her destination. In a way, she was glad to have been sent to the Sacred Peach Tree. She wouldn't be tired by the day's end, and her fur wouldn't be a mess thanks to a long day of training. And so she would not only have more energy to be cheerful with when she met this mystery tiger of hers, but it would also take her less time to get ready.

_What will he be like? Happy and cheerful? Calm and collected? Serious? Mischievous? Playful? Funny? I wonder what kind of humor he appreciates… Or does he have a sense of humor? Is he gentle? _

An absolutely ridiculous number of questions flooded through the striped feline's mind as she walked on. She was both excited and nervous about her dinner date with the tiger. Should she keep up with the serious, all-business attitude most of the villagers associated with her? Or should she let a touch of her softer side come to light?

Another thought suddenly barreled into her mind, as the Peach Tree finally came into view. _What if it's a social date, and not a romantic one, that he's invited me on? Oooo, how do I decide what to wear now!? Whatever I choose has to be appropriate for both a social outing and a romantic dinner! Wait… Why am I worrying? I will ask Viper tonight, she will know what to do! _Tigress assured herself.

The feline slowed to a stop alongside the tree, then slowly sat down with her back against the smooth bark of the fruit tree, legs stretched out in front of her. While she would normally adopt the strict meditative pose Shifu had taught her, the feline had made up in her mind that being a little relaxed every know and then was good for her.

That mindset was probably a result of being around the Dragon Warrior, Po, for too long.

Tigress closed her eyes after a moment, intending to do as she had been instructed, and meditate. But as fate would have it, the gentle warmth that came with the sun's rays touching her sienna pelt had a soothing effect on her, and not six minutes after she had closed her eyes, the female had drifted off into a light sleep.

_**~Time passes…**_

"Master Tigress?" A soft, nervous male voice called out to her in her slumber.

The feline's ears merely twitched, and she shifted slightly, showing no sign of waking up.

"Master Tigress, wake up!"

Her response was the same as before, only this time accompanied by a slight mumble that might have been a severely muffled 'leave me alone'.

The owner of the voice, the palace messenger goose, Zeng, nervously shifted from one foot to the other, brow furrowed in worry. The avian courier was not sure which task had been more terrifying. Shifu's mission that sent him to Chor-Gohm Prison just prior to Tai Lung's escape from that particular fortress, or Viper's assignment, which saw him here, attempting to wake Master Tigress without giving her a reason to turn him into goose stew.

He had been sent with a small cup of water, which Viper had instructed him to toss into Tigress's face should she be unresponsive. To the worried bird, that seemed like a incredibly poor and overly hazardous idea. But it was all he had.

Zeng gripped the small stoneware cup in his right foot, and hopped back a single step. He lifted the gripped cup, and prepared to splash Tigress with the liquid contents of the white container. He screwed his eyes shut, as if the act would somehow protect him from immediate disembowelment, and uttered a short prayer.

Just as he was about to drench Tigress's face, a soft yawn came from the napping feline. Cautiously opening one eye, he peered over at the feline, who was stretching out.

"Zeng, what are you doing?" She demanded, upon opening her eyes and spotting the goose. "Oh, uh, Master Viper sent me to wake you up! Umm… She told me to splash you if I had to!" He said hurriedly, dropping the cup so fast that one might have thought it had turned red-hot while in his grasp.

Tigress's eyes went wide. It wasn't _that_ late… Was it? "Zeng, what time is it?"

"A half-hour until dusk, I think. Why?"

Zeng never got a answer, for Tigress was on all fours and tearing off towards the barracks in a quadruped run. _I'm late! _She thought, mortified at the prospect of having a tardy arrival to her meeting down in the village. If she took only twenty minutes to groom and dress, then another six minutes to get down the stairs and into the village, that'd give her four minutes of 'free time' to recover from the journey down, and make it to the teahouse.

If she was fast.

The tigress burst into the barracks and raced straight to her room, where Viper was coiled up upon her sleeping mattress, anxiously awaiting her. "About time! Where were you?" The snake chided, watching as Tigress stood up straight, and slid the door shut behind her.

"Sleeping by the Sacred Peach Tree. I can't believe it, I slept all day!" The feline replied while moving towards a small chest tucked into the corner of the room farthest from the sliding door, and extracting a set of fine combs and brushes from it.

"Well, you are a cat. I suppose that explains the lengthy nap." Viper sighed, slithering over to Tigress. "There's no time to completely groom your fur, but that's not a problem, you look fine. Just do what you can while I get your dress out, all right?"

Tigress nodded in response, selected a small oak handled brush, and started combing the soft fur covering her face and neck. She paid little attention to Viper as the serpent maneuvered towards the closet, and selected a dark red dress from it. _Wonder why most of Tigress's clothes are red… Guess she just likes the color. _She thought, looking it over once.

"This will do nicely…" Viper said to herself, carefully hoisting the dress with her tail. "Will you come get it? I don't want to drag it over there and soil it."

The other female quickly obeyed Viper's request, moving towards the closet and taking the dress with one paw, while ceaselessly combing her fur with the other. "But… Viper, look at this. You know I'm not comfortable in clothes like this…"

"Tigress, you will look great in it. Your mystery tiger won't believe his eyes when he sees you in it. Stop being so self-conscious and put it on!" Viper replied, smiling knowingly at her friend.

Tigress sighed for what felt like the hundredth time that day. "Okay."

The feline dropped the brush and stepped behind her room's changing screen, which was placed alongside the closet. "If you can't get the fasteners on the back, don't worry, I'll help you with them." Viper said, watching as Tigress carefully draped the dress over the top of the wood-and-paper screen

"Right!" Tigress replied, sending first her vest, then her pants, flying over the screen. "Uhh… Let's see… I put it on… This way? No, that won't work… Oh, I see!"

Viper was now a little worried. If Tigress decided to force the dress onto her, she would likely shred the delicate garment. "You OK in there?"

"Oh, I'm just peachy! I think I've got it… Gods, this thing's tight!" The striped cat growled in response.

A few moments later, she stepped out from behind the changing screen, clad in her dress.

It fit fairly snugly to her form, showing that she had a much more feminine build that her regular clothes let on. She had a vaguely hourglass figure and an appreciable bustline, which the dress accented.

As for the dress itself, it was fairly decent, though not so much to make it boring to the male eye. It was sleeveless and without cleavage, and bore a 'v' shaped cut on the back, exposing much of her upper back and part of her lower back as well. The dress extended down to her calves, and to ensure that it did not hamper mobility, two slits had been cut vertically down the sides, starting halfway up the thigh and continuing all the way down to the bottom of the dress.

"Are you sure this is OK?" Tigress asked, looking down at the front of the dress with a worried expression upon her face.

"It's perfect. Now hurry, you don't have long to make it down to the village!" The serpent master replied, zipping back to the door and sliding it open.

The striped cat instantly complied with Viper's order, heading out of her room and making her way out of the barracks as fast as she could manage without mussing her dress.

_**Meanwhile, in the Village…**_

By the time Tigress had left the Barracks, her 'Mystery Tiger' had already arrived at the teahouse. Gone were the work clothes and dirt that he had worn earlier in the day, and in their place, a dashing black vest and matching pants in their place. The vest was beautifully embroidered upon the back with a red dragon coiling about itself, and it was fastened with a golden sash tied around the tiger's waist much in the fashion of a belt.

The pants were not as eye-catching. No nifty embellishments, no fancy embroidering, just plain black fabric.

He sat at the same booth Tigress had occupied that morning, hands folded together atop the table's edge. _I wonder if she'll come… _He thought, letting those soft brown eyes of his wander towards the teahouse door.

Almost as if summoned by his thoughts, that wily teahouse owner, Lin, glided his way, and voiced her own opinion. Which, confidently enough, mirrored his own thoughts. "Don't worry, Master Tigress said that she would come." The gentle tortoise said, placing a teacup filled with rich black tea in front of the tiger, then turning and wandering off to tend to another patron.

The tiger sent a quick 'Thank-you' her way before she was out of earshot, at the same time placing his left hand in his lap and carefully picking up the teacup with his other hand.

He took a cautious sip to gauge how hot the freshly steeped tea was, then once satisfied he wouldn't scald his tongue by drinking the potent brew, he took a slightly longer drink of the beverage. _Wow… This is great tea. I'm definitely going to keep coming back for more. _He decided, sipping at it once again, and savoring the taste of the hot beverage.

When he set his teacup down, he noticed something standing at the corner of the table in his peripheral vision. The male turned his head, and his jaw dropped when he saw who it was standing there. Master Tigress. _By the Gods, she's beautiful! _He thought, too stunned to even attempt to speak.

Luckily for him, Tigress was having similar thoughts. The eyes of both cats wandered admiringly over each other for a brief moment, before settling upon one another's orbs.

After a moment of silence, the tiger managed to snap out of his speechless state. "Good evening, Master Tigress." He said, a cordial smile stretching across his muzzle. "Good evening to you as well." Tigress replied, a small smile of her own appearing upon her face as she settled into the seat on the opposite side of the booth.

"I hope I didn't keep you waiting too long." She said, placing both hands in her lap as she got comfortable on the seat. "It was no problem, I've only been here a short while." He answered, much to the normally punctual feline master's relief.

"So… I came to thank you for paying for my tea this morning." Tigress began.

"You are very welcome, Master Tigress. It was my pleasure." Mr. Mystery Tiger replied, his smile threatening to turn into a grin at any moment. "Besides, it was the only way I could think of to ask you to dinner."

_So the truth comes out. He's interested in me. But is it fan-type interested, or romantically interested? _Tigress wondered, her smile growing a wee bit at the thought. "So this is more of a… Romantic outing, than a social call, yes?"

"I suppose it is." He replied.

"Well then… May I know your name?"

"Of course. My name is Dong Jiang." The tiger now known as Jiang replied.

"Your name means Winter River, correct?" Tigress asked, head tilted very slightly to the left out of curiosity. _I know that name from somewhere… But where? _

Jiang slowly nodded his head, that same bright smile still upon his muzzle. "Yes, that's right. But please, Master Tigress, just call me Jiang. Everyone does."

_That smile… I've seen it before. It was a long time ago… Who was it who smiled like that? Bah, why am I thinking about this!? I'm spending time with a handsome tiger who has a romantic interest in me. Now is not the time to dwell upon my past. _Tigress pushed all thoughts from her mind, instead focusing on those soft brown orbs of the tiger sitting across the table.

After a moment's pause, the striped feline responded to the male's words. "All right, Jiang. In return, would you drop the 'Master' title from my name?"

The male nodded once again. "Of course."

Jiang paused a moment, then opened his muzzle to speak again, only for the stealthy arrival of Lin to beat him to the punch.. Which was not a bad thing, considering how he was having a dickens of a time trying to find a topic of conversation that would interest Tigress.

"Hello Jiang, Master Tigress. What do you two want to eat tonight?" The tortoise asked, beaming at the pair of tigers. "Some steamed rice, a salmon fillet, and snow peas for me, please." Jiang immediately replied, turning his head to look up at Lin as he spoke.

"I'll have the same." Tigress said, deciding to forgo the usual tofu and assorted greens for one night, as a treat to herself. "And what will you be drinking, you two? Tea? Rice Wine? Or plain water?"

This time, Tigress was the first to speak. "Water sounds great."

"All right, water for you. What about you, Jiang? Most working men like a small portion of rice wine at night, are you among them?" Lin asked, turning her gaze towards Jiang once again.

"Not really. Alcohol and I don't really agree with one another. I'll have the same as Tigress." The male replied. "Let me make sure I have this right… Two orders of Salmon with rice and snow peas, accompanied by two tall glasses of water."

Both tigers nodded in response to Lin's statement.

"Then I'll be off to get the cook started on your meals!" The tortoise said cheerily, whirling about and trotting off towards the kitchen.

A 'thanks' was heard from both tigers, who had already returned their gaze to one another. "So Jiang, how long have you lived in the Village?" Tigress asked, hoping to not only make conversation with the male, but to also learn more about him.

"Let's see… About six years, I think. Yeah, that's right, because I moved here a year before I started working as a carpenter, and I've been a carpenter here for five years now."

He said, tapping his chin with a single finger as he tried to recall exactly how long he had spent in the Valley of Peace. "If you don't mind my asking, what about you?"

_Six years… That long, and I've never so much as heard of him. I really need to get out of the Jade Palace more._ Tigress thought, slightly amused by her own lack of knowledge about the Villagers. "I have been here since I was around six, so that's about twenty years. As for my occupation, my life has been spent studying Kung Fu ever since I was brought here." She answered.

"That's a lot of studying." Jiang chuckled, his smile brightening. "If you don't mind my asking, do you ever tire of it and want to take a break?"

Tigress slowly shook her head. "To be honest, there have been a couple times that I've grown weary of my training and wanted to stop for a while. But… Master Shifu is a very strict teacher. I would sooner pull my own teeth than attempt to wrest more than a few hours of free time out of him."

Jiang chuckled once again and glanced down at the table for a moment. _If I didn't know better, I would think that she was thinking of my own master. _The tiger thought, an amused smile creeping across his muzzle. "Then I suppose we will have to make this evening a memorable one for you." He said, slowly returning his gaze to Tigress's lovely visage.

The South China Tiger happily returned his smile with one of her own. "That would be very nice." She replied softly. Tigress let a few moments pass, before speaking once again. "I do have a question of my own for you, Jiang."

"And I have an answer for you."

"Why did you come to the Valley of Peace?"

It was now Jiang's turn to pause for a few moments. "Well… It's kind of a long story, but I'll try to cut it as short as I can." He began, smile fading slightly. "I used to live in a small valley far to the north of here. The Kim-Sung Valley, I think it was called. I'm not sure, I try not to think about that place. Anyways, about eight years ago, a small army stormed into the valley and attacked a temple there that was dedicated to the arts of Kung-Fu. They overwhelmed the warriors defending the Temple in mere minutes, then razed the building, and slaughtered everyone they found within it's walls with only a single exception. That exception was me. I think they figured I was as good as dead, though, and maybe if I hadn't so stubbornly clung to life, I would have died. After the attackers left, I managed to limp to what little was left of the temple apothecary's room, where I was able to patch myself up… Kind of. I was able to put myself back together just enough to make it to a nearby village, where they cared for me until I could walk without a staff. After I was mostly healed, I came directly here."

"I'm sorry to hear that… But at least you are alive, and you seem to be doing well for yourself." Tigress said, trying her very best to be comforting. But it wasn't easy, as she wasn't used to being the one to give comfort, and it didn't help much that when someone did need compassion, it was usually Viper or Crane who gave it.

"I suppose I am doing pretty well. I've got a good house and a honest job, and what few neighbors I have are fairly quiet and unobtrusive. There is one thing though… I'm fairly lonely here. You'd think that after six years here, I would have made a few friends." The male laughed softly, not sounding in the least depressed over his confessed loneliness.

Judging by Jiang's laugh, Tigress decided that this topic wasn't a touchy one for him, and so, she allowed a quiet laugh of her own to slip out. "One might think so, but there are only a handful of carnivores in the Village, and out of those, there are only two tigers, counting you and I. Your options for friends are somewhat limited, I think." She replied.

"And of those two tigers, one is a very beautiful and famous woman… And since I've always been a little girl-shy, I was never able to work up the courage to talk to her… Until today." Jiang commented, a slightly playful smile forming upon his muzzle.

Tigress was silent for a few moments, a smile plastered to her muzzle. While Viper had always told her that she was indeed an attractive young woman, hearing it from the lips of a handsome member of her own kind made her feel like she could walk upon clouds. The fact that Jiang had turned the conversation away from himself went unnoticed by the female, who was, to be completely honest, happily stunned by the compliment.

She finally managed to force herself to create a response, which she promptly set into audible speech. "Well, I am glad that you decided to talk to her." She replied, not really thinking it odd that she had just referred to herself in the third person.

"So am I, Tigress. So am I."

It was at this precise moment that Lin, who either had perfect timing or horrific timing, made her re-appearance, miraculously managing to juggle balancing a platter containing both Jiang and Tigress's orders, while in the other hand clutching a platter bearing a fine china pitcher of water and a pair of matching cups. "Here is your dinner! I hope everything is suited to your tastes." She said in that typical cheery tone of hers, at the same time placing the food and related items upon the table in front of the pair of striped felines.

"Thanks Lin." Master Tigress said. Jiang echoed her words a moment later.

"You are most welcome. Just let me know if you need anything, I'll be over by the kitchen." The tortoise replied. Without further ado, Lin headed off to the kitchen, again leaving Jiang and Tigress with only each other's company.

After moving their own plates and cups to within easy reach, the cats started conversing again. "This looks delicious. Does all of the food here look like this?" Jiang asked, picking up a pair of lacquered bamboo chopsticks between his fingers as he spoke.

"Yes. Lin is a excellent cook." Tigress said, acquiring her own chopsticks as she spoke.

The male tiger nodded in acknowledgement as he used his free paw to grasp a knife and cut a cube out of his salmon. The cube was promptly picked up with his chopsticks, and brought to his muzzle. While his intention had been to eat it, he brought the cube to a halt a few millimeters in front of his lips, then lowered it. "I think it's fresh out of the skillet, I can feel the heat radiating off it. Maybe we ought to let it cool down first." He suggested, turning his gaze up from the cube to Tigress, who nodded in agreement.

"That's not a bad idea. Scalding my tongue on hot food isn't really high on my list of things to do tonight." Tigress stated, setting her chopsticks down. "While we wait, shall we learn more about each other?" She asked, once again placing her hands in her lap.

"Sure." Jiang said, setting the cube of salmon back on his plate, and placing the chopsticks upon the edge of the plate as well.

"So… Do you have any family?" Tigress asked, unable to devise a better question for him.

"Not really. My biological parents died when I was very little, and I was told by the people who cared for me that I am a single child. I was taken in by a black panther when I was… Oh… About seven." He replied, rubbing the back of his neck with one hand as he spoke. "Uh, what about you, Tigress?"

"The rest of the Furious Five, Master Shifu, and Po are my family. As for my biological family… Well… I don't know what happened to them. I don't think I'll ever know. The caretakers at Bao Gu weren't terribly useful when it came to learning about my parents."

Now, most people would love to learn more about the enigmatic Tigress's past. But for Jiang, it was a bizarre mix of total shock, a pleasant surprise, and a mild amount of terror, all rolled into one moment. _She couldn't possibly be MY Tigress, my old friend… Or could she?_ He wondered, locking gazes with Tigress.

"Bao Gu? As in, the orphanage?" He asked, trying to keep his face as blank as was possible.

Tigress slowly nodded, one eyebrow slightly raised. "Yes. Why?"

"Well, uh… I think I met you there. When we were very little…"

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

OMG, what a awful cliff-hangar! Sorry guys. I'm starting on the next chapter ASAP, hopefully you won't have to wait a while for it.

Anyways… I guess this is the part where I talk to everyone who was kind enough to drop off a review.

**Kixxar: **Thanks for the review! I'm glad you thought it was well-written, it takes a burden off my shoulders. [Y'see, I tend to endlessly and sometimes needlessly criticize everything I write. To hear that I actually did a acceptable job is grand.]

**Sindragon: ***Chuckles* I shoulda known you'd have popped in to review this, Sinny old friend. Thanks for the review. As for what Tigress does to Jiang… Well I guess you're gonna find out in a bit!

**ZodiacHunter: **Oh, calamity! Yet another review to which I must reply! Lol, jokin'. Thanks for the review, ZH. I hope this chapter lived up to your expectations.

And to all those who did the whole story-alert thing on this, thank you!


	3. Chapter 2

**A/N: **Well, first off, I'd like to point out something I forgot to mention earlier.

This wasn't intended to be a epic, ten-chapter plus fanfic. It was originally conceived to set the base for another, longer fan fiction, sometime in the future. [Though it may well turn into a ten-chapter-plus affair.]

And so, it may feel… Well… Short. Some things might happen sooner than you'd like or expect. Frankly, I'm not super happy with how fast I revealed to Tigress that this Jiang was, in fact, her Jiang. But what's done is done, and I think that with a little work and a little tolerance, we'll all end up liking the final result.

Finally, I'd like to apologize profusely to all those who were waiting for the next chapter! I know I said I'd get it out 'soon', but IRL stuff caught up with me. Again. .

So it took me a bit to get this chapter done. Sorry again!

[From now on, I'll be aiming for a One-Chapter-Per-Month update rate. More, with any luck.]

**Disclaimer: **I do not own Kung-Fu-Panda, Dreamworks Studios, and any characters created by Dreamworks.

**However:** I do own all Original Characters that I have created, including Dong Jiang, Yi Shan, Jinhai, and others that have appeared and that have yet to appear.

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"_Well, uh… I think I met you there. When we were very little…" _

Jiang's words had an immediate and very visible effect upon Master Tigress.

The feline warrior's auburn irises instantly widened, and her expression turned from a pleasant smile to a mask of shock.

It was, perhaps, the last thing she had wanted to hear from the handsome young tiger.

There were many things she would have rather heard from him that this admission, for the confession forced her to come face to face with the fact that the male sitting across from her was the same male who had, twenty years ago, shattered what was, in her mind, the single most important promise that had ever been made to her.

Now, it never did cross her mind that at the time, he was only seven, and was likely unable to do anything to keep that promise. Nor did it enter her mind that if she had indeed gone with him, she would not be 'Master Tigress', leader of the Furious Five and the most powerful female warrior in all of China, with Viper running a close second, and some hybrid feline from some backwater village tying with Viper.

All in all, there were only two things running through her mind.

The first was to immediately and mercilessly rip into the tiger in front of her, not with her claws, but with a volley of verbal abuse that would leave him desperately wishing to hack off his own manhood with a dull pocketknife in shame of his own inherent masculine stupidity and self-focus.

The second was to remain as calm as possible, and see what he had to say for himself without resorting to violence or extremely uncivil words to extract a more detailed confession from him. There was also the little detail of making absolutely sure that this was, indeed, the same Jiang who had broken that oh-so-important promise.

After a considerable delay, which had the effect of making Jiang noticeably and rightfully nervous, Tigress choose which of the two courses of actions to take. Thankfully for Jiang, she chose the more peaceful of the two responses. After taking a brief moment to decide what to say, the female warrior spoke.

"So… You are the same Jiang who was brought to Bao-Gu Orphanage twenty-three years ago… The same Jiang who befriended me the very day he arrived there."

Tigress paused and watched the male's reaction to her words. It was as she had expected. He nodded his head first, then started to open his muzzle to speak. But she wasn't done yet, and so, she beat him to the punch.

"The exact same Jiang who made a promise to me, a very, very important promise, only to thoughtlessly break it three years later in the middle of a game of hide-and-go seek. The same Jiang who never even bothered to say goodbye when he ran off, and didn't even think I merited being sent a letter after he got wherever he was going!" She said, anger quite audible in her tone as she continued.

It looked very much so like the striped cat had yet more to say to the other tiger, but Jiang had one attribute that could be viewed as either potentially useful or life-threatening, depending upon who you asked. And that was a excess of bravery in the face of incredible danger.

That bravery compelled the male to take a page out of Tigress's book, and cut her off by talking first. "Yes, I am that Jiang. And it was not my decision to leave, in fact, I wanted to stay! I tried to stay, tried to talk my way out of it. But Gods, Tigress, I was only seven years of age, and you remember how timid I could be when I was younger! There was nothing I could have done."

He paused for only the briefest of moments to allow his cub hood friend to absorb that information before he resumed speaking. "And I did try to write you. Not that it mattered, you couldn't read when you were six, and I was still learning to read and write. But the point is, the man who adopted me, a panther named Yi-Shan, helped me to write you a letter and send it to you. In fact, I was sending letters to Bao Gu once a month, every month, for eight years!"

However, Tigress's anger was not that easily calmed. "All those letters and you never bothered coming to SEE me!" She snapped in response, glaring across the table at the other tiger.

"Yi Shan wouldn't allow it. I was lucky just to be allowed to write to you! I don't even know if he actually had them delivered to the orphanage, or if he just had the courier discard the letters! He was trying to make me leave my life at Bao Gu behind and accept the new life he had set out for me." Jiang replied. Unlike Tigress, the carpenter's voice was devoid of anger, but not devoid of frustration.

Tigress was not about to accept Jiang's explanation, however. No, she was still clinging to the anger towards him that had silently dwelled within her ever since his unexpected departure from Bao-Gu. Perhaps that was to be expected of the fierce master. In fact, such anger was even understandable. What was not understandable was how she clung to her anger even in the face of a simple and honest explanation. It might have had to do with the fact that she was not looking for a explanation, but instead, an apology.

And Jiang had never been particularly wise when it came to sensing when it was time to stop explaining or arguing, and simply apologize.

"And what life did he plan for you that was so much better than our friendship? What life did he offer that was so wonderful that it made you stay away?" Tigress asked, her voice soft, but anger still present in her tone. It was likely that the softening of her voice had the sole purpose of keeping Lin from hearing, and butting into, the conversation.

"Tigress… It… It wasn't like that."

The feline warrior just shook her head and looked away from Jiang, who was currently at a loss for words.

"No, it was exactly like that. You are a typical self-focused male, and when you got something you thought was better than our friendship, you discarded that friendship as if it was a worthless old garment." She stated coolly.

Jiang noticeably winced in response to her icy words, but offered no verbal response, for he thought it wiser to try letting her vent all her pent-up anger at him, then start talking again when some of her wrath was dissipated.

Unfortunately that was a poor plan. After all, Master Tigress had been clutching onto her anger for two decades, and her anger only grew over time. Heaven and Earth would have to be moved for all of her anger to dissipate in this one sitting.

A very uncomfortable ten seconds of silence followed her words, during which neither tiger so much as blinked. Unsurprisingly, it was Tigress who broke the silence. "Well? What do you have to say?" She demanded, folding her arms across her chest, forgetting for a moment that she was in a dress, and not her usual outfit.

A few more tense and speechless moments passed before Jiang finally spoke. "Nothing. I don't think there's anything I could say that would earn me forgiveness." He replied softly, looking down at the table immediately in front of him, rather than continue to hold Tigress's gaze, for looking into the other cat's eyes only made him feel guiltier than he already did about breaking that promise.

" You're probably right." Tigress said, bluntly, not once recognizing any of the varied emotions playing out across Jiang's face.

He sighed heavily and let his head hang after replaying her brutally straightforward answer several times in his head. "Then… Maybe I should go. I am certain you have better things to do than waste your precious time upon a old friend whose guilt you are so obviously blind to in your current state of mind." He stated calmly, sliding out of the booth and rising to his feet.

Tigress shot him a glare that could freeze an entire army in it's tracks as he rose to his paws. "Sit. Down." She sternly commanded. Clearly, she was not yet done with him.

But he was done with the conversation. "No, I am in no mood to continue with this, if what you are going to do is sit there and vent every last ounce of your anger upon me, and nothing else." He bravely replied, returning his gaze to the face of the furious female tiger sitting in the booth.

"Yes, that is exactly what I am going to do, Dong Jiang! I spent twenty years, TWENTY YEARS, wondering why in the name of the Thousand Gods you broke our promise, why you broke _me! _And now you come walking right back into my life expecting to be able to just explain it all away and have everything be all sunshine and roses again! Are you really that much of a naïve fool!?" Tigress hissed, eyes narrowed to slits at the carpenter.

If he was to run for it, that would've been the time to do so. But in a rare display of utter stupidity, Jiang just stood there, waiting for Tigress's next verbal barrage. That barrage arrived, but unlike her previous volley, it was not harsh and angry. Instead, it was the sorrow dwelling under her anger that was given voice.

"I have every right to be angry with you, and yes, maybe it is silly to cling to that anger for as long as I have without letting go of it. But after you abandoned me, I… Changed. I was taken in by Master Shifu, and on that day, exactly one week after you left… My childhood was forced to come to a premature end. I wasn't allowed to play anymore, only train. Train day in and day out, until every fiber of muscle and every bone in my body ached. When I wasn't training, I was studying the Thousand Scrolls of Kung Fu, or meditating. Needless to say, that killed who I used to be.

And now… Well, I've been molded into what Shifu wanted me to be, not what I want to be. I want to be able to just smile, Jiang, to be able to go out into the street and smile for no reason at all. I want to be happy, to live with no weights on my shoulders. I want to be able to sit and watch the sunset, and gaze at the stars, and simply enjoy their beauty. I want to greet the new day with a ready smile and a happy heart, but that's impossible. All because you, in your childhood selfishness, broke the one promise that would have saved me from this mostly depressing life I've lived. It's like I've been turned into a machine, Jiang. A machine. I wake up, I eat my breakfast, I train or study all day, I eat dinner, then I go to bed. I repeat the routine every single day of the week, every week of the year, every year, with no exceptions."

She paused for a moment, watching and measuring Jiang's expressions. It came as no real surprise to her that he looked sincerely remorseful, but she put it out of her mind for a moment so that she could finish her statement.

"I know when I wake up next morning I'll realize that my life isn't anywhere near as bad as I make it sound, that I am fortunate to have what few friends I have, and that I am, in a way, happy to be where I am… But right now I just can't help but think… All the hurt and pain I've suffered over the years, all the battles I've been in, all the constant disappointments… All of them could have been avoided by the simple act of you keeping a promise. And yet… You come here, you meet me, you confess to me who you are… And you happily explain away why you had no choice, and yet, you never stop and just say the one thing I need to hear. You never say 'I am sorry'.

As if on cue, Jiang started to open his muzzle, but before he could even begin to articulate whatever apology he intended to voice, Tigress cut him off. Again.

"If that's an apology you are preparing to utter, save it. It would be meaningless right now, and would only further anger me. Please, just… Leave. I need to be alone for a while." Tigress said quietly, as she slipped out of the booth and rose to her feet, eyes fixed upon the tiger.

"Okay, Tigress, okay… Just… Can I please meet you tomorrow?"

She paused for a moment, thinking. Did she really want to see him again? To her, tomorrow was pretty soon to be seeing him once again. But… Maybe it was the right thing to do. "Yes. At the gazebo in the gardens on the outskirts of town, where the river flows into the village. Meet me there half a hour before sundown." She replied. Not a moment more was wasted standing there; she immediately turned and padded off to the exit of the teahouse.

Jiang paused just long enough to put enough coins upon the table to pay for the food -which, unfortunately, had gone untouched- and to leave a generous tip. After that, he too left the Teahouse, and proceeded back to his own dwellings, just as Tigress ascended the stairs back to the Jade Palace.

Jiang lived on the very outskirts of the village on the river's bank, where the river flowed out of the village. His home, a former farmstead that had fallen prey to poor farming practices that had depleted the soil and left it useless for many years, had been renovated back into a fairly handsome affair by the young carpenter. It was two stories with room enough for a husband and wife, plus two or three children. It fit in with the other buildings in the village, being constructed of a sturdy hardwood frame with white plaster outer walls and a terra cotta roof. A small garden, big enough to supply Jiang with some vegetables without demanding too much care, was nestled behind the house, and a fair distance from the house was a small shed-like structure with three walls made out of tight-fitting gray stone and a roof made out of wood slanted at a slight angle, so that rainwater would roll off to the back wall. The small building was barely large enough to house the forge and associated equipment tucked inside it, but considering how that was all it was utilized for, it's small size wasn't a issue. But to Jiang, the finest feature of the home's location was it's privacy. After it had been abandoned years back, nobody had bothered cutting down the bamboo growing all around it and it's small and seemingly useless field, and so now it was nestled right in the middle of a clearing in a grove of bamboo.

Finally, a handsome little path made out of cut and snugly fitted reddish-brown river rock led from the village up to the house, and flanking it on either side was grass, grass, and still more grass, which looked to have been recently cut by a scythe.

It was upon this sturdy path Jiang now walked, eyes set upon the door to his house, which was only dimly illuminated by the moonlight. As he walked, he forced himself to not think of Tigress, for fear that the guilt trip she had sent him on would come back with a vengeance. Instead, he tried remembering how much work it had been to build the rock path, or how proud he had been when he had finally put the last rock into it's place.

It worked; he didn't think of Tigress at all as he closed the distance to the sturdy wooden door of his home, placed a small iron key into the crude lock, unlatched the door and pushed it open, and walked in. He locked and shut it behind him, and lazily deposited the key upon a small stand placed off to the left of the entryway. After brushing his feet off upon a mat set just past the door, he padded into the interior of his home, feet making dull thumps upon the polished oak floor.

He was as proud of his home as he was of that pathway he had built outside. Unlike other bachelor males, he kept his place clean and simply but tastefully decorated. A few ornamental vases were scattered about at ideal locations throughout the home, and various tapestries and a couple paintings of picturesque landscapes adorned the polished cedar walls.

At times, he found it somewhat difficult to believe that it had been a farmstead, what with such a expensive wood being used for the interior walls. But according to the villagers, the cedar had been salvaged from scraps left over from the various rebuilding projects that occurred as a direct result of Tai Lung's first rampage, which would explain how simple farmers were able to afford such materials.

He was half-tempted to go into the kitchen and fetch himself a light snack, but the tiger decided to forgo it in favor of going directly to bed. And so he immediately headed away from the entrance of his home to a short flight of stairs, which he ascended to the top floor. He hooked a left off the top of the stairs, and walked down a short hallway. There was one door on the right side of the hall, two on the left, and one door at the end. Two of the three doors on the sides were bedrooms, the other was a bathroom, which he rarely liked to use due to the effort of having to drag water all the way up to it every time he used it.

The door at the end of the hall was the master bedroom, which was the only one that actually had a bed in it. [The other two bedrooms had been stripped bare when the previous owners abandoned it, and Jiang had only saw fit to repair them. Refurnishing them would have been a waste of time, since he honestly didn't think that he'd ever have guests or a family to fill them.]

By the time he reached his room, Jiang was already removing his vest, which was somewhat carelessly tossed upon a large cedar dresser the moment he entered the room. The queen-sized bed was unmade, and unlike the rest of his neatly-kept home, Jiang never intended to make it. He saw it as foolish. After all, there wasn't a single girl in the valley he thought would ever see his room, mostly because almost all of them were herbivores and thusly were not ones he'd even remotely consider dating, and partly because there were only two female felines in town besides Tigress, and both of them were snooty, spoiled, and incredibly annoying.

Secondly, he saw making the bed as a waste of time, when he was only going to mess it up again every time he used it.

But the real reason, which he would not admit even to himself, was that he wasn't much of a morning person. While he wasn't grouchy in the mornings, and while he didn't lack energy, he was a touch on the forgetful side. And the first thing he forgot on a regular basis was making the bed.

Not long after he abandoned his vest into the not-so-gentle caress of the top of the dresser, the tiger traded his pants for a pair of dark blue pajamas. He toyed with the idea of finding the nightshirt that went with the light pants, but he decided that he'd just overheat with it, and so it remained tucked away in the top drawer of his dresser.

Jiang quickly crawled into bed and nestled down under the covers, while trying his very best not to let his mind wander back to what had transpired at the teahouse less than half an hour ago. Still, he couldn't help but think about what had been said, think about Tigress.

She was absolutely right; he should have offered an apology, and not a litany of explanations and excuses. There was no arguing that. While everything he had said had been true, it didn't really matter, at least, not in her eyes. And in a way, he could understand that. He imagined that if he had let anger towards a friend dwell within him for twenty years, he wouldn't be looking for a explanation from that friend. He'd be looking for a very sincere apology, and nothing else. The realization that he had made no effort to offer her even a simple 'sorry' filled him with guilt.

Still, he was very glad to have discovered that she was the same Tigress he had known at Bao Gu, despite how much guilt he felt after seeing her again. After sending letters for so many years without receiving a single reply, he had begun to fear that she had died. To see her alive and well relieved him greatly.

Still, as much as he would love to stay awake and think of Tigress and what he would say to set things right, Jiang wanted to be well rested for tomorrow. He had plenty of work that day, and heavens above knew that he'd need to have plenty of energy to both get through the day and be able to deliver a sincere apology to Tigress when they met.

So the striped cat rested his head upon the nearest pillow, closed his eyes, and allowed the peace of deep and dreamless sleep to overtake him. Within moments of shutting his eyes, he had drifted off, not to awaken until the next morning.

Unfortunately for the other tiger in the valley, sleep was not visiting her as easily as it was her old friend. While she had made it back to the Jade Palace at roughly the same time as Jiang had made it to his home, she found herself having to sneak back to the barracks, lest she be intercepted by either Master Shifu or Viper. She was in no mood to explain that the handsome tiger she had met was, in fact, that old friend of hers who had betrayed her.

It hadn't been very difficult to sneak around the various gardens and courtyards until she arrived at the path leading up to the barracks, which she ascended as quickly as was possible with the dress slowing her down.

Luckily, she did not encounter Viper, Shifu, or anyone else once she had passed into the barracks. Once inside, she wasted no time sneaking down to her room, slipping in, and then hiding within. While due to the darkness cloaking her room most others would need to light a candle to see, her feline vision was just as good at night as it was in the daylight, and so thankfully there was no need for a light source.

She hurriedly changed out of her dress and into a black silk nightgown. After taking a moment to properly hang up her dress, she crawled under the covers of her bed, which was massively different from Jiang's far more luxurious sleeping arrangements. Her bed consisted of a mattress that was barely big enough for her placed on top of a fairly well made bamboo bed frame with a few sheets and a warm comforter placed over it all. Though considering how it was all she knew for a bed, Tigress had a hard time imagining that people would have beds bigger and more comfortable than her own.

After she had gotten nice and cozy within her bed, Tigress closed her eyes… And started thinking of what had transpired that night. Her romantic dinner date had turned into a reunion with Jiang. Previously, she had hoped to never see that tiger again… But now that she had met him, now that she had seen the guilt in his eyes and weighing heavily upon his shoulders, she realized that perhaps seeing him would finally bring closure over that broken promise.

Providing he developed a brain and apologized, that is. She wanted to hear it from his lips, hear that he was sorry for what he had done, not just see it in his eyes.

Despite the fact that they did have that unresolved and troublesome matter between them, she was secretly glad to have seen him. He had grown from a fairly timid but cute tiger cub into a strong and handsome, if somewhat stubborn, man. And although she would not likely admit it at the moment, she thought it would be nice to revive their friendship after he apologized.

After spending a few moments assuring herself that tomorrow night she would finally get closure to that troubling event in her childhood, Tigress finally allowed herself to drift off into a light sleep… Though it was a wonder that she could sleep at all, considering how she had slept away much of the day!

~**Next Morning**~

Between her and Jiang, Tigress had been the first to stir that morning. The cool and crisp morning air wafted into her room through the paper 'window' that she had thoughtlessly left open the previous day, tickling her whiskers and rousing the striped warrior from her slumber. A barely audible yawn slipped from her muzzle as she slowly sat up in her bed, rubbing her sleepy eyes with her hands in an attempt to wake up.

She could see a thin ray of light streaming in through the opening in the wall, telling that the sun was either rising or had risen. The Morning Gong would, in the latter case, ring in about an hour, a thought that prompted the punctual female warrior to slide off her bed and onto her feet. She groggily made her way to a wash-basin situated a distance from the foot of her bed, and proceeded to splash some of the cold water over her face. As the water trickled down her fur, formed droplets, and fell back into the basin under her muzzle, she felt the droplets take some of her sleepiness with them.

She spent a little more time cleaning up at the basin before grabbing a towel she kept handy and drying out her facial fur. After that, Tigress took a moment to change into her training garbs and toss her nightgown into a wicker basket reserved for soiled clothes.

_What should I do now? _She wondered, as she looked around her room. Maybe she should kill some time by straightening out her things? No, everything was in perfect order. Perhaps she could write in her diary? She shot that down as well, she was in no mood to scribble down her thoughts on a piece of paper.

After milling around for a few more moments, trying to figure out what to do, she gave up on thinking and headed out of her room. Rather than head to the training hall and pummel a few dummies, she made her way towards the Hall of Heroes to study another of Oogway's Thousand Scrolls. While she normally studied the Scrolls on the Weekends, she wanted to master the one hundred and forty-seven she had left to learn before the year was out.

Tigress managed to walk out of the Barracks, pass all the buildings and whatnot between the barracks and the Hall of Heroes, and then enter the grand Hall without encountering another soul. Once inside, she started towards the back of the hall, where the scrolls were stored.

However, she made it only halfway there when a feminine voice from the side of the hall intercepted her. "Good Morning, Sister!" Tigress didn't even have to look to instantly identify the owner of that voice. "The same to you, Viper." She replied, turning to face her friend and comrade. While she had hoped to get away with not talking to Viper until that afternoon, there was no escape, so she bucked up and prepared to tell all about her meeting with Jiang last night.

The next words to come from Viper were so predictable that it made Tigress wonder if there was a God of Clichés who demanded that such sentences be spoken to start this particular type of conversation.

"So… How did it go with your mystery tiger last night?" Viper asked, her smile clearing displaying how eager she was to listen to every last detail pertaining to the event.

"Fine, I suppose." Tigress replied, trying to buy herself enough time to figure out how to explain what had happened.

"Just fine?" The other female asked, somewhat disbelievingly.

"Remember that friend of mine Master Shifu was telling you about yesterday morning?"

Viper shifted somewhat uncomfortably. She should've known that Tigress had heard that. She had just been hoping that her friend had forgotten about how she had queried about her past, or at least decided to bury it. "Yes, I remember." She finally said, after a moment's pause.

"Well… My 'Mystery Tiger' turned out to be that old friend… His name is Dong Jiang. And… Well… He's grown and changed quite a bit since I saw him. I argued with him last night. You see, he broke a very important promise he had made to me when we were young, and I still haven't forgiven him over it. But after sitting there and venting almost all my anger over that betrayal, I… I'm finally ready to move on. We're meeting again tonight, and… He's going to apologize for breaking that promise." Tigress explained, crossing her arms over her chest as she spoke.

Viper was quiet for a few moments as she processed everything Tigress said. "Um… What happens after he apologizes?" She asked carefully, not wanting to accidentally intrude upon Tigress's private life… Again.

"Honestly? I don't know. I think he'd like to put what happened behind him and start fresh… By that, I mean forge a new friendship between us. I think Jiang deserves a second chance. I know that if I were in his place, I'd want a second chance."

Viper beamed at Tigress. It was quite easy to read that the serpent master was very happy that Tigress had been reunited with a old friend, and that there was a solid chance that she would rebuild her friendship with that old companion. Or at least, that's what Viper hoped. "I'm glad to hear that, Sister!" She exclaimed.

Tigress smiled a little and nodded in agreement. "I am too. I can hardly wait for tonight. Speaking of tonight, I probably won't be able to slip away to meet him tonight unless I get to my studies earlier than usual." The feline replied, glancing off at the numerous fine wooden racks that held Oogway's Thousand Scrolls.

"Oh, right! I'll let you go then. See you later, Sister! And I wish you well in your meeting with Jiang tonight!" Viper said, as she slithered off towards the Hall's exit without waiting for a response.

Tigress smiled, then turned and resumed her course towards the Thousand Scrolls. Not only would resuming her studies help to keep her mind off her second meeting with Jiang, but since she was supposed to be studying the scrolls anyways, she hoped that Shifu would allow her to cease studying early. At which point she'd go to bed a hour or so early, and then while everyone else was off eating, she'd slip out to go and meet Jiang.

While leaving the Palace without Shifu's permission was a virtually unknown thing to Tigress, she felt that asking permission to go and meet someone two nights in a row might send up a red flag in the aging Red Panda's mind, and that was the absolute last thing she needed.

She came to a halt in front of the stand holding Scrolls 800 through 1,000, and tenderly plucked the Eight Hundred and Forty-Seventh Scroll out of it's place amongst it's paper brethren. This one detailed a particularly tricky to master but incredibly effective nerve strike that was very similar to the attack Master Oogway had used to disable Tai Lung twenty years ago. It was giving her quite a bit of trouble, though, due to the fact that she was having a problem finding people willing to play 'Punching Bag' for her while she learned how to perform the complex nerve strikes.

Though she hoped that, with an adequate bribe in the form of food, she could convince Po to stand still and allow her to attempt to paralyze him. But only temporarily, of course.

Master Tigress slowly turned to face the pool situated in the middle of the hall, then she sat down Lotus-style upon the floor, unrolled the scroll, placed it in front of her, and began her studies. She prayed that the day would proceed just as yesterday had, that is to say, very quickly. After all, she was very eager to hear an apology from Jiang.

"Just keep your mind on your studies, Tigress, and time will fly…" She whispered to herself, forcing herself to clear her mind of everything but the detailed scroll laying in front of her.

~Meanwhile, in the Village~

Just as Tigress was busying herself with her studies, Dong Jiang was occupied with his job. More specifically, his current client, Magistrate Xiu, one of the most pompous, self-righteous, and arrogant people the Amur Tiger had ever had the displeasure of working for. The short and rather rotund pig, garbed in a ridiculously gaudy royal purple and gold robe with a matching domelike cap plopped at a odd angle upon his pointy head, was attempting to intimidate the much larger tiger into submission with a stubborn glare that only made him look like a spoiled child who hadn't gotten his way. With his little hooves planted firmly upon his hips and a failed attempt at a scowl plastered across his face, Magistrate Xiu looked quite comical, like he should belong in a illustration in a children's book.

The Magistrate was extremely unhappy with Jiang at the moment. Why? The tiger had been hired by the Magistrate to assist in construction the various structures required for the upcoming Festival. His pay was prearranged, to be no more and no less than one hundred and fifty Silver Coins per completed item exceeding five feet in either height, length, or width, plus he would be reimbursed for all materials he used from his own stores. Or, if he was working with others to complete some of the larger structures needed, he would be paid a flat rate of three hundred Silvers per day.

Simple enough terms, one might think. Until the Magistrate had withheld pay for three of six vendors stalls, all exceeding five feet in all categories, completed by the tiger. And to boot, Xiu had also 'forgotten' to reimburse Jiang for the materials he used to build the stalls. Needless to say, Jiang wasn't very happy about that, and had threatened to tear down all the stalls, even the ones that had been paid for, unless he received full payment and reimbursement for materials used by the end of the day.

Now, Magistrate Xiu needed the stalls intact, since the Vendors who were going to be renting them for the festival wanted to start setting them up that afternoon. And so he wasn't very happy with the prospect of losing all six stalls, and the revenue that would come with them. But he felt that the much lower pay was more than adequate for the tiger, since a pair of rabbit brothers were building similar stalls at a half the price Jiang was asking for the stalls. Never mind the fact that the stalls built by the brother's were liable to fall apart at the slightest push, and were made of the cheapest wood they had on hand. Thus, he had used his warped logic to justify withholding Jiang's money.

"Magistrate Xiu, all I am asking for is that I am paid the money owed to me. I have a very hard time understanding why such a morally upright man such as yourself is unwilling to pay this debt." Jiang said calmly, strong arms crossed over his chest as he looked down at the Four-foot-high Pig.

"Your fees are preposterously high, Dong Jiang! The Zemin brothers are willing to do the exact same job as you for half the fee! This fact lead me to realize that the reason your prices are so high is because you took advantage of me when we first worked out your pay, as at the time, I knew nothing of carpentry!" Xiu snapped in response, beady dark brown eyes glaring up at the tiger. "Therefore, I decided to halve your pay, bringing it to a more realistic amount." He added, his tone somewhat calmer this time.

Jiang barely managed to contain a growl, but he was unable to prevent his ears from lowering in aggravation. "I have never taken advantage of anyone, Xiu." The tiger stated firmly, a hint of anger creeping into his voice. "If my fees are too high for your tastes, then fine. Pay me the remainder of what you owe, and I'll seek out work elsewhere."

"Unacceptable!" Xiu squealed, throwing his arms into the air in an exasperated gesture. "It is your responsibility as a honest craftsman to keep your prices at a rate that is both fair and competitive, and at risk of repeating myself, your prices are ludicrously high compared to the Zemin brothers! Due to this gross abandonment of your responsibility, I cannot help but hypothesize that due to this massive difference in fee, that you are attempting to… Oh, what is a term that a simpleton like you will understand… Ah! I cannot help but believe that you are attempting to 'rip me off'!" The Magistrate babbled on, not once registering the fact that Jiang was getting more than a little hot under the collar. "Therefore, I believe that I have every right to cut your pay! Why, I could even take you to the courts and charge you with attempted extortion, and other bad-business charges!" The pig defiantly had more to say, but he didn't get a chance.

"Enough, Magistrate Xiu." Jiang interrupted, the irritated tiger's arms falling to his sides and hands clenching into fists, in a act designed to control the anger he felt towards the pint-sized creature standing in front of him. "I am not going to stand here and waste my time by listening to your attempts to justify withholding that Silver. I'll tell you what, Magistrate, I'll give you another day to actually put some thought into this and give me my pay." The tiger said, making sure to avoid saying anything that the Magistrate could misinterpret as a threat. No need to give Xiu a reason to attempt to throw him into the village jail, after all.

His words seemed to throw Xiu off-balance, for it took the pompous official several seconds to recover enough to muster a reply to the tiger, who was already turning around and starting to walk away. "Very well then, I will speak with you tomorrow afternoon, but I assure you, sir, my answer will be the same then as it is now! You will simply have to set aside whatever greed is compelling your extravagant pricing and accept what you are paid!" He called after Jiang. Much to the Magistrate's displeasure, the tiger didn't even acknowledge his words, he just kept walking like nothing had happened. "How dare he ignore me! Ignorant, self-focused peasant!" The pig grumbled, marching off towards the stalls Jiang had constructed, to see if he could find any flaws that would give him an excuse to attempt to further cut the tiger's payment.

Unlike Xiu, Jiang didn't stoop to petty name-calling once he was out of earshot of the pig. To him, he would be no better than Xiu if he did stoop to such a level. He simply walked on, towards the center of the village, where the markets were located.

_Since it doesn't look like I'm going to be working today, I suppose I should restock my pantry… All I have left in there is a few cups of rice and some flour. _The tiger thought, idly rubbing the back of his neck with a single hand as he trotted along the aging cobblestone road.

It didn't take him long to reach the market, which was only just starting to fill up with people. The tiger froze in the middle of the street for a second as he tried to remember where the general store was located. "Is it… This way?" Jiang wondered aloud, turning right and heading towards a fairly small building nestled between a bakery and the old herbalist's store.

The sad thing is, Jiang rarely did his own shopping. On the lone path leading out of his home, there was another quaint house that belonged to a almost middle aged Chinese Mountain cat, Liu, and her two sons, young Bai and his big brother, Jinhai. Jinhai, who was seventeen years and eleven months old, was always eager to work a odd job or two to earn a few extra silvers for the family. So, Jiang had made it a habit to simply pay his neighbor to buy his groceries for him. For Jiang, it freed up more time for work and his other assorted duties, and for Jinhai, it provided plenty of silver. Both were happy with the arrangement.

The one downside of it is that he never really bothered to try to remember where the general store was. So on the extremely rare occasion that Jinhai couldn't perform the weekly grocery run, Jiang would almost always forget where the store was.

Luckily, this time was not one of those times. The building he was approaching was indeed the general store. The wooden building was very old, and was one of the few buildings that managed to completely escape Tai Lung's wrath on both of his little rampages. The red paint slathered somewhat carelessly over the walls was faded and chipping in some places, and the golden paint on the window frames wasn't faring much better. The front door didn't look any better, but being constructed from thick planks of stout oak, it was far sturdier than the rest of the structure.

As the door was propped open to allow a breeze into the surprisingly well lit interior of the single-story building, there was no need to pause as he entered the structure. Unlike the outside, the interior of the building was fairing much better. The hardwood floors, which Jiang dimly remembered helping to repair when he first arrived, had been recently polished, the paint was in pristine condition, and everything was spic and span. He had no doubt that the cleanliness had to do with the owner's wife, who was very gentle, but hated sloppiness in all it's forms.

He turned to face one of the somewhat graceless but sturdy wooden shelves holding the various goods for sale, and started perusing over what was available. First Jiang came across various inexpensive but durable fabrics and threads for very basic sewing purposes. Since his skills as a tailor were only marginally better than his skills as a cook, he quickly moved on. The next thing he encountered were various brushes, soaps, washbins, and other assorted housekeeping goods. _Uhm, I don't think I need any of that. Moving on. _

The amur tiger proceeded down the various shelves in much the same way. Something would catch his eye, he'd lean in closer to view it better, than whatever it was would scare him off. After a little while, he finally found what he had been looking for in the first place: Food!

The first thing his eyes settled on in the food section was a bag of rice that looked to weigh around twenty pounds, sitting on the third shelf. And it seemed to be the final bag, no less. Without any hesitation, the tiger moved in on it, and grasping one corner of the bag, started to pull it off the shelf with a gentle tug that should have been more than sufficient to remove it. But the bag barely budged! "_Stubborn thing. Come on now, off you go!" _He muttered under his breath, giving it another, firmer tug.

Much to his surprise, it not only barely moved, but after he stopped pulling in surprise, it retreated back to it's old spot, then started moving towards the _other_ side of the shelves that held it! He yanked it back towards him, but again, it didn't go far before it darted back across again, this time pulling him along with it.

Before he could think to pull on it again, whatever invisible force that was controlling the bag wrenched it across the shelf. Jiang, clutching to the bag with one strong hand, was caught completely off guard and stumbled forward into the shelves before he had the sense to let go of the burlap sack, which promptly disappeared to the other side. "What in the world!?" He gasped, very much so surprised by the 'living rice-bag' that had just escaped from his grasp.

"Oh Gods! Sorry!" A equally surprised male voice replied, from the other side of the shelves. Jiang peered through the cavity in the shelf where the bag had been sitting, and surprise surprise, Jinhai was standing there with the bag cradled under one arm and a sheepish grin on his face.

"Jinhai!?" Jiang exclaimed, bursting into laughter not long after. "So you're the cause behind the haunted rice bag!"

"Yup, that's me!" The teenaged Chinese Mountain Cat replied in a cheeky tone, as he shouldered the bag of rice and trotted around the shelves, onto the side where Jiang stood.

Jinhai was quite tall for his species, standing around 5' 7" tall. His slender build was packed with dense and powerful muscles, making him surprisingly strong. His pelt, a dark sandy color, was somewhat disheveled here and there, though that wasn't exactly unusual for him. His fur was occasionally punctuated by a black stripe on the backs of his arms, as was normal for his kind, and his tail had numerous black rings near the tip. A slight patch of white fur was plainly visible on the top of his chest, thanks to the fact that Jinhai had failed to fasten the top button of his dark blue work shirt. The young man's youthful face was quite clean, and the fur covering his strong jaw and jaw line, which grew somewhat longer than the rest of his facial fur, looked to have been freshly trimmed.

"I… Didn't have anything to do today, so I'm doing the grocery shopping so that Mom won't have to after she gets off work." Jinhai explained, adjusting the bag of rice on his shoulder, and continuing to force his smile to remain on his face.

"Bet that'll make her happy…" Jiang replied, folding his arms over his chest as he examined his young friend's face. "Wait, you didn't have anything to do? I thought you were still in school?"

"Not anymore." The teenager stated softly, rubbing the back of his neck with his free hand. "I'm not going back there. I just got expelled. Not that I care right now." He admitted, ears laying back in embarrassment.

Jiang sighed and shook his head. "What for?" The tiger asked, regarding the younger man with the same concerned expression that would be expected to adorn the face of a older brother.

"For fighting. There's this bull in my class, Fuhua. He's an aggressive and arrogant idiot who thinks he can bully his way through life, and with his dad as one of the village elders, he can get away with almost anything. Well, this morning, I made the hapless mistake of wearing that jade Dragon pendant my father gave me to school. Fuhua decided it'd look better on him, so he walked up to me, gave me that clichéd evil grin of his, and told me to hand over the pendant before I had an 'accident'. I told him that 'this amulet is all I have left to remember my father by. There's no way I'm giving it up to some brute.' Needless to say, he wasn't very happy about that."

Jinhai paused a moment, caught his breath, then continued.

"He replied by telling me my father was a 'simple peasant' who 'doesn't deserve to be remembered', and promptly tried to tear it off my neck. I responded with right hook to his jaw, followed by a sharp blow to his solar plexus. When he hit the floor, unconscious, my teacher flipped out and started screaming at me. Said I was going to be expelled. So I didn't stick around, I just left. Went straight home." The Mountain Cat finished, ears laid so far back that if they went any further, they were sure to disappear into his skull.

Jiang was silent for several moments. One could practically see his mind working to process everything his young friend had told him. Understandably, Jinhai looked more and more nervous with each passing moment of silence.

Much to the young man's immense relief, a slight smile crept onto Jiang's muzzle. "While I don't usually condone fighting, I think this Fuhua fellow had it coming to him. Maybe in the future he'll remember not to insult another person's parents." He began.

"On a somewhat different note… Knocking out a bull in only two blows, quite a feat for someone of your age. Maybe you should train to be a warrior." Jiang suggested, his smile slowly growing into a grin.

"I think I'd rather just learn to be a carpenter. I don't think I'm much of a fighter." Jinhai said. Jiang knew it was just the more modest side of Jinhai speaking. He was just like his father in that regard. He didn't like calling attention to himself. He was also like his mother, in that he wasn't always confident in his own abilities, and thus tended to avoid trying anything new. It didn't help that throughout his childhood, his so called 'friends' would mercilessly tease him for every perceived failure, thus further reinforcing the habit of steering clear of new activities.

"Whatever you say, Jin." Jiang replied, a knowing smile stretching across his muzzle. "Anyways, why don't you get home and look after Bai before he gets bored and destroys your home. I've got to get my supplies and do some thinking…"

"Thinking? On what? If you don't mind my asking."

Jiang shrugged. "No, it's fine. I'm meeting a old friend tonight, and… Well… I've got an apology to make to her. I want to spend some time and think up what to say."

"Then good luck be with you, Jiang! Gods above know you and I are both horrible at apologies." Jin said with a laugh, his cheerfulness returning to him.

The tiger laughed and grinned. "Whatever. See you later, Jin." He replied with a chuckle, as he strode past the younger male, giving him a gentle pat on the shoulder as he passed him.

"Later!" The other male replied, before striding off towards the counter at which the cashier was located, to pay for the bag of rice.

Now left to his own devices, Jiang resumed his search for delectable edibles, eyes searching the shelves. By pure dumb luck, he found another bag of rice, though this one was half the size of the bag Jin was lugging around. Jiang picked that up on one hand, then went about his merry way.

_A short time later…_

Jiang stumbled out of the store, burdened down by a fairly large burlap sack containing various vegetables that was carried in his left hand, while in his right hand he carried the bag of rice. Much to his dismay, the streets were quite crowded now, though it wasn't a real surprise. Perhaps a hour had passed since he had first set foot within the general store, and so it made sense that the village-folk would all be out and about.

While the vendors were surely delighted with the amount of traffic that would reach their stalls, Jiang was less enthusiastic, since he was going to have to push his way out of the crowds to get to his home.

"Well, crowds aren't going to magically shrink if you stare at them long enough. Time to get moving…" He said to himself, forcing himself to put one foot in front of the other and start trotting down the street.

It was slow going, getting out of the markets. He had to dodge more villagers than he could count, and there were more than a few times that he nearly stepped on a particularly diminutive villager. Luckily though, most people were smart enough to get out of his way when they saw him coming, which greatly reduced the chance of him inadvertently flattening someone.

It took him a good while, almost thirty minutes, just to make it out of the markets. When he finally did, he breathed such a sigh of relief that one might have thought he had just cheated death. _Glad that's over. _He thought happily, as he padded along at a leisurely pace towards his home.

Now that he was out of the crowds, it took almost no time at all for him to get back onto the street that would take him home. Before he knew it, his feet were treading the familiar path leading down from the main street towards his home. He soon passed by Jinhai and family's house, and shortly after that he was in the bamboo grove separating his home from the rest of the world.

As he made it through the grove and advanced steadily towards his front door, he couldn't help but wonder how Tigress's day was going thus far. Hopefully she had not had to argue with a annoying official like he had!

While he thought of her, his eyes drifted towards the mountaintop upon which the Jade Palace sat, which was visible even from his home. He couldn't help but think of what events were to come that evening. Apologizing to Tigress. That thought was terrifying, since he didn't want to make a mistake and ruin any chance of earning her friendship again. But it was also exciting, for just as a mistake would cost him Tigress, a success would open the door to rebuilding their friendship.

"You know… Maybe I should bring something special with me tonight… I wonder if she still likes lilies?" He thought aloud, returning his gaze to the path ahead as he neared his door.

He tucked the bag of rice under his other arm, then using his now-freed hand, he unlocked and opened the door. Once inside he nudged the door shut with the back of his foot, rather than making any attempt to turn around, and then made his way towards the kitchen.

Jiang put away the food in the pantry, his mind still stuck on Tigress. _It's so hard to grasp just how much she's changed. I never imagined she would become a warrior, and yet… Now here she is, 'Master' Tigress, leader of the Furious Five, and the most famous woman warrior in all of China. _The male mused as he made his way back to the front door, grabbing a small watertight basket and a knife along the way.

_Though I suppose she must think the same of me… I've changed so much over the past twenty years. _He figured, as he left his home and locked the door behind him.

_Now enough of the thinking, I need to go to the waterfall north of the Village… I think that there white lilies growing near it, I'll hand-pick her a bouquet as a apology gift-ish… Thing. Hope that's appropriate in this situation… _

And with that, Jiang started walking. It'd take him a little while to get there and pick the best flowers out of the lot, then still more time to figure out how to properly arrange them and whatnot. He figured that if he started that morning, he might actually have an acceptable bouquet picked out by that afternoon!

~Meanwhile, at the Jade Palace~

"Master Tigress?"

The feline master's ears perked when she heard her name called, and she immediately started looking around for who had called for her.

"Tigress, are you in here?"

Now she recognized that voice, it was Master Shifu.

"I'm over here, Master Shifu." She called back, trying to stand up, but opting not to after discovering that her legs had fallen asleep on her.

The red panda seemed to materialize alongside her a moment later, both hands clasped behind his back, as usual. "Is something the matter?" He asked calmly, eyes glancing first at the scroll laid out in front of Tigress, then at her.

"No. Why do you ask, Master?" She replied, genuinely baffled by his question.

"Well, the Morning Gong rang over thirty minutes ago, and you were not present with the others." Shifu explained. He watched as a embarrassed expression crossed her face as she opened her muzzle to apologize, but he cut her off with a wave of a hand. "No, it's all right. I doubt you would've heard it through those doors." He said, gesturing towards the thick double doors at the entrance of the Hall of Heroes.

"That is not the reason I have spent the last half hour looking for you, though. I wanted to know how your meeting went last night." Master Shifu added, a ghost of a smile appearing on his face, a expression that he hoped would make it easier for Tigress to speak.

Unfortunately, he could have been grinning happily, and she would have still had a dickens of a time replying. How, exactly, was she supposed to relay to her master that a romantic date had turned into a impromptu reunion with a old friend, who she had proceeded to argue with for quite some time? The simple answer was that there was no easy way to tell him.

"Well… It went pretty well, I think…" Master Tigress began, a hint of nervousness entering her voice. "But the tiger I met, Dong Jiang… He and I knew each other at Bao Gu."

Shifu slightly raised one eyebrow in mild surprise. "I suppose that this is the time that you do some explaining, Master Tigress…"

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More A/N-ish goodness!

Well, it ended on a craptacular cliffhanger, and for that, I apologize! But I busted my tail-end trying to finish the last three thousand plus words of this chapter in one night, so I guess that's kind of a OK excuse. xP Oh and BTW, Jinhai and his family isn't just a random element that was brought in to help the story along. Expect him to play a fair-sized role later on!

Anyhoo, on to replying to reviews!! ^.^

**Corset-Rebellion-Follower: **Aw, thanks for the terrific review! I put a lot of effort into the details and do research where I can to help bring the story to life, and I'm glad I've succeeded in creating something that you can just picture what's happening as you read! *Gives cookies*

**Sindragon: **Lol, actually, my OC Jiang is in trouble with Tigress. And, uh, I'll drop a review off sometime, if I get a chance. I've been a bit busy here lately.


	4. Chapter 3

**A/N: **Right, I suppose now would be a good time for ME to do some explaining, too!

Well, I hit a major writer's block partway into this chapter, roughly 2,000 words in, during a dialogue between two of the characters. So it kind of went on a unannounced hiatus of sorts in my update schedule for this story. My sincere apologies to anyone who was watching this story; I really hope to avoid such a delay in the future.

Oh, and from now on, I'm going to try to update my profile with any absences or delays that might/will affect this story, so if I'm taking a while, take a peek there to see if I'm MIA. Note that this doesn't necessarily mean I actually WILL update my profile, just that I might. xP

Also, as a quick note, I changed the title of the story to reflect what's going to happen soon... Not in this chapter, but soon. XD

Now for the one part of this I loath having to write…

**The Disclaimer **

I do not own Dreamworks, Kung Fu Panda, or any of the locations or characters within Kung Fu Panda. I do, however, own any and all of my own original creations, including but not limited to the tiger Dong Jiang, Jinhai the Mountain Cat, the Temple of the Singing Blades, ETC, ETC. Furthermore, I will unleash rabid squirrels upon anyone who steals those creations in any way, shape, or form. So don't steal. Please.

Now, on to the 11,233 words of fan fiction goodness! XD

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"_I suppose this is the time that you do some explaining, Master Tigress…"_

Tigress didn't exactly enjoy the idea of going into a in-depth explanation of last night's events. For starters, she doubted that Shifu would like the fact that her 'meeting' had actually started off as a date. Secondly, Master Shifu was the last person she wanted to be in the loop about her problems. It was hard enough dealing with feeling like she was never good enough because of the utter lack of praise or even a simple 'good job' every now and then, but she really didn't need her master knowing of her problems, for fear it would make her seem weak in his eyes.

Now, this was not to say that she didn't trust and love Master Shifu. He was the only father she knew, and despite how harsh and seemingly uncaring he was, she would do practically anything for him. But that didn't mean that she couldn't want to _**not**_ obey him at times. And this happened to be one of those times.

"I don't even know where to begin, Master Shifu." She said quietly, hoping to buy herself some time to cook up a explanation that would keep her out of unnecessary trouble.

"Start with how you met him." The red panda almost instantly replied. Whether he realized she was stalling or whether he was simply impatient, it was apparent that a delaying tactic wasn't going to work for her.

When she realized that, she instantly knew that there was going to be no getting around giving him the truth.

"All right…" She replied, ears laying back for a split second. "Yesterday morning, I was frustrated, and I needed time alone to calm down before my training. So I headed down to Lin's teahouse. While I was in there, I, uhm… I caught the eye of a carpenter who had stopped in. He was an Amur Tiger, and unlike the other males in the Village, he wasn't afraid to gaze at me and just… Smile. Well, after a few minutes there, he ducked out of the teahouse, but he paid the owner of the place, Lin, for my tea, and through her, extended to me a invitation to meet him at the teahouse again that night. I think having Lin relay the invitation was to make it so that I really couldn't say 'no'." She began, falling silent to watch Shifu's reaction.

After observing no reaction thus far, which was fairly surprising, she continued. "Well, he was very handsome, and was kind enough to pay for my tea, so I decided it couldn't hurt to meet him again. So, after my duties that day were done I decided to go and actually meet him. I arrived a little later than he did, but he didn't mind. I think he was just happy that I had come. Talking to him, I found that he had a great personality. He wasn't loud or obtrusive, or overly cheerful, just… Friendly and genuine. He acted like… I don't know, it's hard for me to describe, but… I really liked him. Anyways, we started talking, and sharing information about our pasts, I told him how you brought me here from Bao Gu, and… He realized that we had known each other."

Another pause came from Tigress as she watched for any reaction from Shifu.

"Please continue." He said, sensing that his pupil wasn't going to continue unless he offered some form of input, or at least made a face.

The South China Tiger nodded, then resumed speaking. "I… Wasn't very happy to hear that he was the same friend who had broken a very important promise that had been made to me when we were at Bao Gu. I know it's foolish, Master Shifu, but I had been holding onto the hurt that resulted from him breaking that promise all that time ago, and I ended up venting some of my anger… In the form of words. I… I see now that last night I was blinded by all the pent-up rage and pain, and I couldn't see that he was genuinely guilty for how he had made me feel, but at least, by the end of the night, most of my anger was gone. It helped that I had told him that he so freely offered explanations about why he broke his promise, about why he never once came to see me, and yet he never apologized. After I told him that, he started to try to apologize, but I stopped him. Well… To make a somewhat long story much shorter, he asked if he could meet with me tonight, to apologize. I told him yes."

Master Shifu stroked his chin as he pondered what he had just been told, eyes momentarily diverted from Tigress as he thought. After what felt like an eternity to the female warrior, he finally spoke. "Then I suppose you will have to work very quickly in order to meet him tonight." He said, returning his gaze to her.

Now that shocked Tigress. She was fully expecting him to be furious. Partly because this was the first time that Shifu found out that she had gone on a date, partly because he would normally chastise her for not restraining her anger better, but mostly because he was actually giving her permission to go and meet Jiang, again! This surprise showed quite clearly in her expression, a sight that brought a very soft chuckle and a warm smile forth from Shifu.

"Tigress, I believe that there comes a point in everyone's life where there is something that they absolutely require to bring them peace and happiness. If what you need is closure for whatever your friend did to you, or if what you need is a romantic companion, than what kind of master would I be to keep you from whatever it is you need?" The diminutive panda explained.

_Who are you and what have you done with Master Shifu? _Tigress wondered, staring at Shifu with a expression upon her face that clearly read she believed that what she was hearing was a figment of her imagination.

"Get back to your studies, my student, and try not to think too much on my answer. But first, what is the name of your friend, again?" Shifu said, clasping his hands behind his back again as he turned to leave, eyes still locked upon Tigress.

"Dong Jiang." She replied, her mind still in a state of total shock.

"Dong Jiang… Thank you, Tigress. I will see you in a while. If you tire of your studies and wish to do something else, I believe that Po is attempting to defeat the Adversary… Again. You may want to go down there sometime soon and separate him from it before it hurts him." Shifu suggested with a hint of a amused smile on his muzzle, before he glided off towards the exit of the Hall of Heroes, then slipped outside.

Once he was gone, something in the female tiger's mind clicked. _He's not mad. _She realized gleefully. She had fully expected to receive some form of nigh-impossible task as punishment, such as running clear to the Sacred Pool of Tears and back to the Jade Palace six times in six hours… Without a single break. But no, she hadn't received so much as a verbal chastising!

Naturally, she was very happy about the lack of any form of punishment. While she couldn't help but wonder if spending too much time with Po was making Shifu a little more gentle, Tigress really didn't care.

While it was difficult to force the overwhelming happiness from her mind and get her attention back to her studies, she managed to, and resumed her work, blissfully unaware of the fact that Master Shifu was undoubtedly heading down to the Village to meet this Amur Tiger for himself.

~A short while later, at the Waterfall…~

It was likely a funny sight, seeing the tall and powerfully built Dong Jiang, bending over and picking flowers near the Waterfall. But did he care? Nope. Even if someone came along and ridiculed him for his blossom gathering, he still wouldn't care. To him, any amount of mockery would be worth it if the flower arrangement he intended to give Tigress brought a smile to her face.

With a precise slice of a small knife, he cut through the stem of another flower and lifted it to his eyes and gave it a brief looking-over, then delicately set the lily down in the basket he had brought along. With each gathered flower, he was closer to being able to create a bouquet. It had been very slow going. But he was bent on gathering only the most beautiful and perfect flowers for Tigress, even if it took him all day.

His eyes settled on another lily, it's petals perfect in shape and health, and crisp white in color. As he knelt to pluck it from it's home upon the ground, he heard the distinct 'thrush' sound that came with someone moving through tall grass or similar vegetation. As the noise came from behind him, the striped feline peered back over his shoulders at his guest.

Perhaps to his surprise, he saw a red panda. _He looks kind of familiar… _He thought, one eyebrow slightly raising as he examined the older male from afar. _Wait a sec… That's Master Shifu! _He suddenly realized, ears perking up and both eyebrows raising in surprise.

"Dong Jiang, I presume?" Shifu asked, expression utterly neutral as he regarded Jiang. It hadn't been difficult for him to track down the tiger. He simply asked if anyone had seen the Amur Tiger, and a oh-so-helpful villager quickly pointed out that Jiang had been going towards the waterfall. Once he had learned that, the surprisingly speedy Master had zipped along to the tiger's presumed location.

"That's me." Jiang replied, slowly rising to his feet and turning around to face Shifu, his expression settling back into a smile. "Is there something I can help you with, Master Shifu?" He asked, rising to his full height as he spoke, and letting his hands hang by his hips.

"As a matter of fact, there is…" The vertically-challenged Master said, expression still as blank as before. "I understand that you are an acquaintance of Master Tigress's, is that correct?"

The tiger blinked a few times, then slowly nodded. "Yes, we knew each other when we were at Bao Gu." He replied, soft brown eyes studying the red panda who was questioning him.

_\_Shifu took just a moment to absorb that information before speaking again. "And I understand that you were separated from one another, yes?"

Jiang slowly nodded, but offered no verbal response. That didn't matter to Shifu though, he was simply looking to confirm beyond the shadow of a doubt that this was the same individual that Tigress would be meeting that night. "You spent twenty years separated from one another. True?"

"True." The tiger said, rubbing the back of his neck worriedly. He didn't really like where this was going, but seeing as how this was _the_ Master Shifu speaking to him, he couldn't really tell him to have a nice day and then walk off.

"And you stumbled across one another just yesterday, correct?"

Jiang nodded, then spoke up. "Yes, she's grown into a fine woman, and an amazing warrior."

"Indeed she has." Shifu agreed, pausing for only a moment afterwards before speaking again. "Now, it is my understanding that you intend to meet her again tonight. What, exactly, do you intend to say?"

"Master Shifu, with all respect, that's between me and Tigress, I'm not really sure I'm…" Jiang cut himself off with the rather cold and serious expression that found it's way onto Shifu's face as he spoke. "On second thought, I'd be, uh, happy to tell you…" He muttered. "I'm going to say what I should have said the moment I recognized her. I'm going to apologize. I want to tell her I'm sorry, that I am sorry that I never came back for her, that I'm sorry for not being able to keep our promise. And I'm going to ask for forgiveness, and pray to every god I know that I get it. Tigress's friendship meant the world to me when I was a cub, and I'd like to bring our friendship back." The tiger replied, letting his hands fall to his hips as he spoke.

"Hmm. Is there anything else you plan on saying to her?"

"Not that I can think of at the moment… The only thing I was planning on doing, aside from apologizing profusely, was to give her these." Jiang said, presenting the basket of lilies to Shifu. "Lilies… Her favorite flower." The red panda observed, looking up from the basket to Jiang. "You are serious about earning her forgiveness, aren't you?"

Jiang slowly nodded, a small smile upon his muzzle. "Very serious, Master Shifu." He replied, as he set the basket down next to his feet. "Like I said before, her friendship meant a lot to me when we were cubs. And… I miss that friendship, and I miss her."

Shifu clasped his hands behind his back, momentarily examining the flower-filled basket before diverting his gaze upwards to meet the stare of the carpenter's soft brown orbs. "I hope you know what your chances of success are in this endeavor, Jiang. After all, Master Tigress is a very independent and strong individual, and her forgiveness is, in my experience, quite difficult to earn." The red panda began, face and tone serious and stern as he spoke.

"I know, my chances are slim at b…"

Shifu cut Jiang off with a quick wave of his hand, a smile creeping onto the master's face. "You didn't let me finish, Jiang. As I was saying, while she is independent and while she can, admittedly, hold a grudge, it is my belief that she will forgive you." He stated, his voice at first taking on a slightly annoyed tone, then changing to what might have been interpreted at a satisfied tone, as if he was happy with what was happening to Tigress's life.

Without pausing to give Jiang a chance to speak up in response, Shifu continued his one-sided dialogue with the tiger, speaking in a rather nonchalant tone. "Now, this does not mean that she will forgive you, only that it is my belief that she will. Which brings me to a very important matter, Jiang, so I want your undivided attention. Master Tigress may be a warrior, but, her emotions and feelings can be easily thrown into disarray under certain circumstances… Such as being hurt by a close friend. If you two become close again, Jiang, I want your word that you will do everything within your power to ensure her happiness, and that you will never do anything that will result in emotional injury for her."

The tiger was somewhat taken aback by Shifu's words, but he slowly nodded his head in agreement. "I promise."

The red panda clapped his hands together in front of them and held them there, a satisfied smirk upon his muzzle. "Excellent! Then I will not have to order Po to sit on you, or otherwise cause you bodily harm!" Shifu exclaimed in a disturbingly cheerful tone.

"And I believe that concludes our discussion. I will leave you to your task, Jiang; and I wish you luck in your meeting with Tigress. Good day to you." And with the meeting apparently over, Shifu turned about and took his leave of the area, leaving the surprised, and slightly worried, tiger alone to contemplate just what sort of bodily injury Shifu had in mind that could possibly be worse than being sat on by the Dragon Warrior.

Jiang waited a good while until he was absolutely certain that Shifu was well out of sight, then sighed heavily, ran his hand through the soft fur covering the top of his head, and let his shoulders slump ever so slightly in relief. "Well, that went pretty good, I guess." He murmured to himself, as he bent over, scooped up his things, and resumed his task of gathering Lilies for Tigress.

_Meanwhile, at the Jade Palace…_

"You make a stroke with the brush with a smooth, constant motion, not with a slow, jerky motion; like this! See?" Tigress explained in a happier-than-normal tone of voice, demonstrating to Po how to properly perform the art of Calligraphy with graceful movements of her hands as she spoke. She and Master Crane were sitting on either side of the Dragon Warrior, Po, sheets of paper, inkwells, and brushes spread out in front of them, all part of the ongoing, and seemingly impossible, mission to train the Dragon Warrior how to properly create traditional Chinese characters.

"Oh, okay, I get it now!" Was Po's response to Tigress's words. Tigress and Crane watched in anticipation as the Panda lifted one of his oversized hands, clutching a delicate-looking brush in between his digits, dipped it in a bit of ink, and then moved it to the paper… And much to their surprise, began to perfectly recreate the string of characters necessary to relay the phrase 'Peace through Strength'.

Or at least, mostly perfect. His final, finishing motion on the last character was jerky, and resulted in him accidentally smudging out the character, making it completely illegible, much to Po's horror.

"Well, if it weren't for that little oops at the end, Po, it would've been fine. You're getting there. That's enough for today, we've got to get back to our other lessons before Shifu returns from whatever it was he was up to in the Village." Crane sighed as he rose to his feet and began moving about to clean up the few supplies they had strewn across the floor within the Avian Master's room.

Po opened his muzzle to ask for just a few more tries, as he always did, but closed his muzzle and sighed. "Aw, and I was so close too! Maybe next time, right guys?"

Tigress offered up a rare smile and patted the Panda on the shoulder as she got to her feet. "Sure, you'll get it next time. You're doing great Po, just stick with it and you'll be as good as Crane in no time." She replied in a reassuring tone, offering the panda yet another smile as he got to his feet, brushed off, smiled back, then departed the room.

After he was gone, Tigress started helping Crane clean up the messy floor.

"You're in a great mood today Tigress!" The Avian commented, glancing over at the striped feline as he worked at plugging the inkwells, which was quite a task as he only had one appendage with which to perform the job.

"What, are you saying I'm normally in a bad mood?" She retorted, not bothering to look back at Crane as she spoke.

"Er, no! Uh, not at all! I'm just saying you're in a better mood than you usually are in! Wait, that came out wrong; I mean you're more cheerful than normal, and… Erm, I'm gonna be quiet now before I dig myself any deeper into the ground…" Crane's voice trailed off as he cringed up, fully expecting Tigress to pull a 180 degree turn and pounce him.

Tigress sighed, rose to her full height, and walked over to Crane, gently nudging his wing with her hand to catch his attention before she spoke. "No, you're fine, and you're right. I am in a pretty good mood today."

At that point, it was all Crane could do to resist the urge to pinch himself and ensure he wasn't dreaming, but he managed to keep his composure, and then ask the first relevant question that came to his mind. "Um, if you don't mind my asking… What put you in this good mood?"

The female master was quick to respond to Crane's query. "I'm meeting a very good friend of mine tonight."

"Oh, that's cool. Who is he?" Crane asked politely.

"Hey, how'd you know that my friend is a he!?"

Tigress could have slapped herself immediately after making that statement. She had walked right into that one. Judging by the look on Crane's avian face, she knew there was no avoiding answering that question, and so she, reluctantly, supplied some additional details on the nature of her 'date' with Jiang.

"Well, uh, his name is Dong Jiang. He's an Amur Tiger; one of the village carpenters. I knew him as a cub, we were best of friends at Bao Gu Orphanage, until he was adopted and taken away." She explained, folding her arms over her chest as she spoke.

Crane wisely sensed that this was likely all the information he would be able to safely extract from Tigress on the subject, and so decided to congratulate her on her reunion with her old friend, and then let the matter die. "That's great that you met him again, Tigress!" He commented, as he finished cleaning up the calligraphy supplies at his feet, then turned his full attention to Master Tigress. "Oh man, time's really flown while we helped Po! Hey, I have to get back to training, and if you're going to slink off and spend the night with your old friend, you probably ought to get back to your studies as well, since Shifu will most likely be back at any moment. See ya later Tigress!" Crane exclaimed, taking flight immediately after speaking and flying out of the opened window of the room.

Tigress knew he was right about the training, and so rather than stick around and twiddle her thumbs in Crane's room, she turned about and marched out, sliding the door shut behind her on her route back to the Hall of Heroes.

She moved out of the Barracks mostly on autopilot, as once again her thought processes had been usurped by thoughts and wonderings about what the night with her tiger friend would bring.

She knew he would apologize, and so didn't think of that. Tigress also knew that he'd come bearing some sort of gift to give her, something to show just how serious he was about making things up to her. It wasn't that she was psychic, it was just that she had known Jiang very well, and she had a feeling that those habits of his would never die.

Her thoughts were mostly focused on Jiang himself, and what a friendship with him would bring. It would be very nice indeed to have a close feline friend in whom she could confide. But… There was something else about Jiang that held her interest. It wasn't just the fact that, when they were younger, he had always been there for her, through thick and thin. It was something… Different.

There was something new and different in Jiang that hadn't been in him when he was younger. She knew that growing up caused people to change, but this sort of difference wasn't able to be explained away by maturing alone.

But whatever it was, she couldn't quite put her finger on it.

It wasn't romantic or physical attraction, that was certain. True, she liked Jiang quite a bit, and he was quite attractive both in his body and his personality, but she just wasn't interested in a relationship with anyone… Not yet, anyways.

There was just some inexplicable element to Jiang, some hidden facet, that held her interest. Tigress couldn't explain what that piece of Jiang was, only that it was there.

Those thoughts were pushed to the back of her mind as she reached the Hall and once again pushed the great doors open as she moved inside at a leisurely walking pace, heading directly for where she had been studying.

The time for thoughts of her old friend, no matter how much more fascinating than her study materials they were, was at an end, and the time for study was at hand.

Tigress settled back into her previous position near the scrolls she had been studying, laying down upon her belly with one of the many scrolls laid out in front of her eyes. Seconds melted into minutes, and minutes into hours as she pored over the text, mostly oblivious to the outside world in her study-induced self isolation.

_Some time later, in the Village…_

Jiang had finished his flower-picking excursion some time ago and had returned to his home with the Lilies. The Tiger was trying his very best not to think too much about what Shifu had said, rather, he was focusing on what he would say to Master Tigress that night.

As he sat at his kitchen table, the lilies spread across the smooth wooden surface of his table as he patiently and carefully bound them into a perfect bouquet for Tigress, he practiced giving numerous different lines of apology that he hoped would earn him Tigress's forgiveness.

"I'm sorry I broke the promise I made to you when we were young; I'm sorry I never came back for you. I wish I could go back and make things write, but all I can do now is… Argh, that sounds bad." He sighed, planting his face in his palm and groaning slightly.

"Okay, take two… I am so sorry that I broke our promise and that I never tried to come back for you. Ehhh… That doesn't sound as good as my first try…" Jiang mused aloud, as he set his hands back to work crafting the bouquet.

Without warning, a angelic female voice drifted out from behind him, causing him to momentarily pause in his work. "Who's the lucky girl, Jiang?"

The tiger looked over his shoulder, and there standing in the entrance to his kitchen was his neighbor and close friend, Liu.

She was roughly 5'4", a bit taller than average for her kind, and like her eldest son Jinhai, her pelt was a dark, sandy color, punctuated here and there by black stripes, with black rings nearing the tip of her tail. Her pelt was neatly groomed, and her slender, curvaceous frame was tastefully clothed in a simple pair of dark blue pants and a shortsleeved white cotton blouse. The decent, covering clothing matched her wholesome character, as did the bright smile adorning her muzzle and the joyful twinkle in her soft green eyes.

By now, Jiang had set down the flowers and risen to his paws, and had made his way over to Liu. "Good afternoon to you too, Liu." He chuckled softly, returning her pleasant smile with one of his own as he gently embraced her in a hug.

Liu purred for a moment as she hugged the tiger back, then let her hands fall to her hips as Jiang released her and moved back to the table, gesturing with one hand at the lilies spread across the table. "To answer your question, the 'lucky girl' is a old friend of mine." The tiger said, as he pulled up a comfy-looking wooden chair to the table, and motioned to it with his hand, silently offering it to Liu.

Instead of the offered chair, which was smaller than the tiger-sized chair Jiang had been settled into, Liu grinned and settled right into Jiang's chair. "Oh, and who might this old friend of yours be?" She asked, making a bit of a show of getting comfy in the chair, which looked ridiculously big with a creature as small as her sitting upon it.

"Pfft. You silly chair-thief, you." Jiang laughed, smiling and shaking his head as he watched Liu take his chair, leaving him no other course but to sit in the chair he had pulled up to the table, which made him look almost comically large in comparison to the poor chair straining under his weight. "The old friend if mine is, believe it or not, Master Tigress. I would have never thought it, but Master Tigress is the same Tigress I knew as a cub. I'm meeting her tonight, I… Have some past mistakes to make up for."

"So that's what the flowers and rehearsal are for?" Liu asked, leaning across the table and picking up a single lily and examining it as she spoke.

"You've got it, Liu. Tigress and I were best of friends, and I want to salvage that friendship."

"Oh, and here I was thinking I was your best friend in the world, Jiang." Liu replied, pretending to be disappointed for a few moments before another broad smile secured it's place upon her muzzle.

The Tiger laughed softly and returned Liu's smile. "You aren't a just a friend, Liu, you're family. If it weren't for you and those boys of yours, I'd probably be the most antisocial jerk in the Valley by now." Jiang said in a half-joking, half serious tone as he placed his hands upon the table, and once again took up the partially-finished bouquet into his strong hands. "Uh, silly question, does this look about right to you for a Bouquet?" He queried, shifting the bundle of flowers into one hand and then presenting it to Liu.

The mountain cat gently plucked the arrangement from Jiang's hand and began examining it, her eyes probing every petal and stem for a flaw. "You did a great job making this, Jiang. It's perfect. I'd leave it as-is; I bet Tigress will love it." She finally spoke, after silently studying the bundle of lilies for several seconds.

She handed it back to him, then continued speaking, asking a question that had been on her mind since learning that this old friend of Jiang's was the one and only Master Tigress.

"I must admit, Jiang, I am kind of curious. How do you know Tigress?"

"We spent a few of our younger years together in Bao-Gu orphanage. Tigress and I were almost completely inseparable. We were almost always causing some sort of mischief together, that is, when we weren't too busy playing games and exploring Bao Gu together. I was adopted from there when I was seven, and that kind of stalled our friendship." The tiger replied, clasping his hands together on the table in front of him as he spoke and keeping his eyes locked upon his hands.

"Tigress and I had made a promise; I swore to Tigress that if I was ever adopted, I'd take her with me. In turn, she promised that if she was ever adopted, she'd bring me along too. I… Wasn't able to keep my promise. The absolute least I can do, and I mean absolute least I can do, to make it up to her, is get down on my knees and beg for forgiveness. I don't know if she will forgive me or not, but I have to try."

Liu had paused for several seconds after Jiang finished speaking, mulling over what he had said in her head before speaking up in response. "You're really determined to make things right, aren't you?"

The striped male nodded his head in response. "Yes, yes I am. My friendship with Tigress meant the world to me while I was at Bao Gu; I'd like to try to resurrect that friendship, if it's possible. I just… I am a little nervous. I guess it's that fear we all have when approaching someone close to us to ask for forgiveness, that fear that we'll be rejected. Y'know?" He replied, looking up at Liu as he spoke.

The Mountain Cat smiled warmly at Jiang, and reached her hand across and gave Jiang's much larger hands a gentle squeeze. "Jiang, if you go after her with as much passion and love as you put into your work and into the big-brother role you've settled into with my two boys, then you don't have to worry about regaining Tigress's friendship. You'll get it back, I know it." She said calmly, her voice adopting a comforting tone. Liu then put a grin on her face, and used the hand she had placed atop the tiger's hands to tilt his chin up. "Now, put a smile on that mug of yours, big guy, and come with me to my place to get Bai. He's been begging to come see you all morning."

Sure enough, a smile crept across Jiang's muzzle as he slowly stood up and let his hands fall to his sides. "Alright, sound's great. Lead the way, Liu!"

_Back at the Jade Palace…_

Master Shifu sat lotus-style in his quarters, little sticks of incense burning in a vase-like holder upon a small wooden stand in front of the mat on which he was sitting. He was troubled, and for once, it had nothing at all to do with Po, Tai Lung, a mystery of Kung-Fu, bandit attacks, a wounded student, or even a loose tile on the roof of the barracks in which the Furious Five resided. No, it had to do with Tigress's personal life. He loved Tigress as a daughter, though he never showed her that love out of fear that doing so might somehow corrupt her, turn her into the striped female version of Tai Lung.

And because he loved Tigress like a daughter, and because he finally wanted to try to show her that he could be a gentler Master than he had been when he raised her, he wasn't going to interfere with her relationship with Jiang any further, even if it took a turn to romance. He sincerely hoped it wouldn't, but maybe it would be good for Tigress to have someone to love and protect her. After all, from what the villagers he had more or less interrogated earlier in the day told him of Jiang, there was no better companion for her within a hundred miles.

Now, he also heard of Jiang's flaws, one of the most glaring of which being that the tiger was very touchy about his past and had never shared it. Shifu didn't know why, but that tidbit of information made him wonder what the tiger had in his past that could make him want to hide it. It could just be that he was like so many others who had painful pasts they hid from, but it could also be that Jiang had good reason to hide his past, especially in a Valley protected by the finest warriors in all of China.

He supposed that maybe he would interfere just a touch more with Tigress and Jiang's relationship, to learn what secrets the striped cat's past hid. _'Of course, all these whispers of Jiang hiding his past could just be simple rumors. I did not sense anything out of place in the tiger when I spoke to him myse…' _

Shifu's train of thought was rather harshly interrupted by the sounds of flapping wings entering his quarters, followed not long after by the tap-tap of avian feet hitting the wood of the floor behind him as his visitor landed. He rose to his feet in an instant and turned about, smartly clasping his hands behind him as his eyes settled upon Zheng, the messenger.

Before he could query what reason the goose had to disturb him in his quarters, the avian lifted a foot to a small bag that hung loosely around his neck, fished about inside it for a moment, and then extracted a scroll from it. "Master Shifu, a message from Master Qingshan of the Imperial City! He, he's sending you another student!" Zheng exclaimed, extending the scroll to Shifu.

"What!? Another student? What's this about, Zheng, do you know?" Shifu demanded, snatching the scroll from the bird and quickly unrolling it, eyes darting about the text as he skimmed over it.

"_Honored Master Shifu of the Jade Palace, I apologize for this message being delivered to you as late as it was, as it provides you very little time in which to prepare for what I am about to tell you. I recently received a new student here at the Imperial Palace; a most unusual fellow from a land far across the glimmering seas. I could not adequately describe this warrior within the confines of the time I have in which to write this, nor within the amount of paper I had on hand, so I won't even bother attempting to do so._

_Now, the reason I am sending you this warrior is that he proved to be much more skilled than I was led to believe. In fact, he's too skilled for me to adequately teach. I struggled with thinking of a wiser master under whom he could be properly trained in the use of his formidable strength and skills, and I couldn't think of a better teacher than you, sir. Thusly, I dispatched this warrior to the Jade Palace, and, as your messenger goose happened by the Palace some hours afterwards, I sent him to you with this message. _

_Again, I express my sincere apologies at the lateness with which this arrived; if my estimation is correct, then it is likely that you will be seeing your new student but a few hours after receiving this. Good luck in training him, my friend! May you find his company to be as pleasant and welcome as my students and I did!_

_Kind Regards, _

_Qingshan" _

Master Shifu read the entirety of the message aloud, surprise growing more and more evident in his voice with each word. When he finally finished, he slowly, calmly rolled up the scroll, making slow, delicate motions with his fingers, as he turned his gaze upwards to Zheng. "Gather the students with the exception of Tigress; tell them to convert the old storeroom in the Barracks into another bedroom. And before you go Zheng, did you happen to see this student Qingshan spoke of in his message?"

The goose nodded once, swallowing heavily, then speaking up in a nervous tone. "Y-yes Master Shifu! At least, I think I did! I… I saw him on one of the Bridges leading into the Valley of Peace! I didn't get much of a look at him, but… Master Shifu, he's huge. I… I mean… Maybe as tall as Po, and he's _fast_!"

"How fast?"

"Very fast. He'll be here by nightfall at the latest."

Shifu glanced down and away for a moment, thinking on the matter. That would give them only five hours in which to prepare, at the most. "Then go, get everyone to work converting that storeroom. Then I want you up in the air to go and get a better look at him. Report back to me immediately with what you see!"

Zheng squawked what might have been a 'Yes', then took flight and raced away to perform his appointed duties, leaving a slightly irritated and confused Shifu to start wondering just what sort of student was beyond the skills of Qingshan, who was one of the finest Martial Arts Masters in of China.

Zheng reached the Training Hall in almost no time at all, and wasted no time in delivering a very short narrative of Shifu's orders, and a quick summary of the letter Shifu had received and of the glimpses of the new student he had seen. After all was said and done, he took flight once again and was off to track down the new student, and observe him from a distance, leaving four baffled Masters and one Dragon Warrior who seemed incapable of forming an opinion on the matter other than that having another student at the Jade Palace would be 'Totally Awesome!'.

As the group moved to the Barracks and set about their new task, they conversed with one another, sharing theories on what the new student could be. "If he's big and fast, I bet he's a feline. A tiger, or a leopard, most likely!" Monkey suggested, speaking whilst helping Crane to remove wicker baskets from a shelving unit within the barracks storeroom.

"I think he's a horse, they get pretty big." Mantis suggested, sitting atop the shelving unit and doing nothing at all. He'd get squished if he tried to help, though, so nobody minded his lack of assistance.

"True, but a horse is nowhere near as fast as Zheng described him being. They're quick and have lots of stamina, that's certain, but not that fast." Crane spoke, taking a basket from Monkey and darting out into the corridor with it.

Viper, not to be left out of the conversation, immediately threw her own thoughts into the mix, pausing in her task of shifting through the items in the closet in search of bed-making materials to speak. "I bet he's a gorilla, or maybe a bear. They definitely get to be around the size Zheng spoke of."

"Well, I bet he's a Lion!" Po exclaimed. Immediately afterwards, everyone in the room ceased what they were doing, turned, and stared at Po with expressions ranging from utter confusion to 'Is he nuts?'

"What? It makes sense. Zheng said that the student was 'across the shimmering seas', and he's big and fast. Lions are from Africa, and they're big and fast."

"Po, why on earth would a lion come to China? I mean… It's such a long journey, not to mention the fact that I doubt the Imperial City would just allow some lion from Africa to stroll in and see one of the most knowledgeable Kung-Fu Masters in China." Crane replied, stepping back into the room and regarding Po with a slight frown.

Before the panda could even think of an answer to that, Viper, Mantis, and Monkey simultaneously asked "What's a lion?"

"I've never heard of them before. Are they civilized, like tigers are?" Viper added in.

"Same here! Are they felines?" Queried Mantis.

"What do they look like?" Was Monkey's addition to the question.

Before any more curious babbling could take place, Po spoke up to try to answer the volley of questions that had been thrown up at him and Crane. "Whoa, slow down a sec, guys. Lions, are, er, they're big predatory cats from Africa. I don't really know a whole lot about 'em, other than that the males have thick and long fur called a 'mane' covering their head, necks, and shoulders, but the females don't, and that they normally have pelts that are just one color with no spots or stripes. That and they're BIG. Like, really big, and a lot of 'em are all muscle too. One guy I heard about was like, eight feet tall and could snap a tree in half with one hand tied behind his back and both his thumbs bro…"

"Erm, thanks Po, I think we get the picture." Crane interrupted, smiling faintly at the Panda, then adding in his own information regarding lions. "Lions are, like Po said, big predatory felines from Africa. On average, both genders are about six feet tall, but it's not uncommon to see the healthiest males reach seven feet tall. Some of them are very civilized from what I have been told, though most of them live in primitive tribal societies scattered across Africa. As for personalities, lions as a race tend to be passionate, intelligent, fairly loyal, and courageous. Much like Tigers."

The avian paused for a few moments after finishing speaking, then added in a quick comment. "Just, um, remember that that's just what I've been told about them. We might learn that lions are very different from what I've been told. Assuming, that is, that this new student really is a lion. Which I doubt he is."

The others in the room shared glances, thought for several seconds, then returned their gaze to Crane and nodded. "Well, no matter what he is, Shifu will have our heads on a platter if his room isn't ready by the time he gets here, so let's get back to it! We'll find out who's right about this guy's species pretty soon, anyways." Mantis stated, holting everyone from their thought's on the new student and lions.

Murmured 'Yes' and 'I guess so' responses came from the others in the room, who settled back into their tasks, leaving the little insect master to sit and contemplate on the matter himself, as he watched over the storeroom's transformation into suitable living quarters.

Meanwhile, in the Training Hall, Master Tigress was cleaning up from her studies, as the sun was beginning to sink uncomfortably low into the darkening sky. She figured that she had no more than a hour and a half in which to get herself ready and proceed to the Gazebo on the outskirts of the Village.

She wasn't too worried about changing clothes or cleaning up. She hadn't trained, so her outfit was clean, as was her pelt. Plus, as her meeting with Jiang was not a date, there was really no reason to change into another outfit… Though oddly, she found herself wondering if Jiang would prefer it if she did show up in something less businesslike.

Tigress supposed that she might as well change into a light blue vest and pants that she had in her quarters. She had never worn them before, not because she didn't like the clothes, but because the vest wasn't tight enough around her chest, unlike the simple red vest she always wore.

True, the red vest made her look rather flat-chested, but she dared any woman with an appreciable bustline to attempt the acrobatic moves demanded of martial artists without being thrown off-balance by the sway of their chest.

After no less than six embarrassing incidents in her late teenage years, which she directly blamed to the 'sway phenomenon' as Viper had put it, chest-constricting clotheswear became her attire of choice.

Despite such things, she sincerely doubted that she'd need to beat in Jiang's head, or anyone else's for that matter, and so she might as well wear something comfortable and un-business-like for a change.

After hurrying to clean up her study area, Tigress departed the Hall of Heroes and made a beeline to the Barracks. She had to pass by the store room on the way to her own room, but the pile of baskets, boxes, and random items outside the store room went unnoticed by the striped feline as she walked right past it, even failing to notice her compatriots toiling away within the room.

Viper, on the other hand, had noticed Tigress and had departed the store room, slithering along after her friend. The serpent master zipped into her furry friend's room just a moment before Tigress shut the door, and promptly moved herself atop the simple bamboo-framed bed that Tigress slept upon, a excited smile adorning her features.

"Heading out to meet Jiang, sister?" Viper asked, coiling herself up and watching as Tigress picked out a set of garments from the closet.

"Yes. We're meeting at the little Gazebo on the outskirts of town, you know, the one by where the river flows into the Village? It's the one that has the little flower gardens all around it, and a few small lanterns here and there." Tigress replied, plucking out the light blue vest she had been thinking of earlier and examining it for a moment. It had black and gold trim, but was otherwise very simple, bearing no embroidered images or text anywhere on it. The matching pants she selected a moment later were equally simple.

"Oh, that gazebo? Tigress, you, erm, do know that particular Gazebo is kind of a 'lover's lane', don't you? Oohhh, nice choice in clothes, by the way. I bet Jiang will like that!"

"Erm, thank you. And I didn't know that about the Gazebo, I just thought it was a nice, private place to meet him." Tigress said as she ducked behind the changing screen in her room.

"It's private all right. Oh well, Jiang probably won't read into your choice of meetings grounds, so I wouldn't worry about it." Viper mused aloud. She winced slightly as she heard a soft 'rrrriiip' noise come from behind the privacy screen, along with what she was certain was a hushed curse from Tigress. A moment later, Tigress's favorite red vest came flying over the screen, though both shoulder straps appeared to have been torn off at the seam.

"I'll take that down to Seamstress Liu tomorrow morning for you." The snake offered.

"Thank you Viper, but don't worry about it. I needed an excuse to have some new vests made up anyways. I've had that one since I was eighteen, anyways." Tigress spoke as she slipped into her change of clothes, which were, much to her delight, comfortably loose compared to the now-ruined vest laying on the floor. Granted, the blue pants were somewhat form-fitting, as was the vest, but her vest was not at all constricting.

After smoothing out a wrinkle she caught on her vest, Tigress stepped out from behind the privacy screen, a slightly nervous smile on her face as she stepped into the middle of the room. "So, do you still think this looks good, Viper?" She asked, rotating about once, and then lightly clasping her hands together in front of her, letting them rest lightly upon her belly.

"I think that Jiang is going to be one lucky tiger to be able to see you like this. You're beautiful, and I bet he'll tell you the same." Viper replied, barely able to resist grinning and giggling as she imagined what Jiang's reaction would be when the tiger saw her striped friend. "Now get going, you! I bet Jiang will show up early, so why not meet him early and spend more time with him?"

Tigress needed no further enticement to depart early, the thought of spending several hours tucked away catching up with her old friend was more than enough encouragement to send her zipping out of her room and out of the barracks, leaving a grinning, giggling Viper to watch the dust settle behind her.

_Sure enough, at the Gazebo…_

Viper's guess on Jiang was dead-on. After spending some time playing with Liu's little son Bai, Jiang changed into a clean white long-sleeved shirt, which he wore with sleeves rolled up to his upper biceps as usual, and light brown pants, gathered up the bouquet of lilies for Tigress, and departed for the Gazebo long before the sky had begun to darken.

Once at the quaint little structure, painted a light red and built with a handsome terra cotta roof, Jiang settled onto one of the two wooden benches tucked within the gazebo and tried to come up with the most perfect thing to say to Tigress as his apology.

He lost track of time as he thought up one line after another and tried it out to see how it worked, but each time he wasn't satisfied with whatever he had spoken. Something was missing from the apologies he was trying to craft. It wasn't until it was a good half an hour before the time Tigress had said to meet him that he finally realized just what that missing something was.

It was that all of his apologies were good, but they were too thought-out. A true apology came from the heart, not the mind. He knew that; it was a lesson that had been pounded into him when he was just a cub. _'I can't believe I didn't think of it that way until now. Geez, I can be such a fool.' _Jiang thought, smiling faintly in amusement at himself.

He picked the bouquet up and examined it as he ceased to think of apologies, instead trying to pass time until Tigress's arrival. He thought of how the petals of individual flowers were much like the pieces of a person's soul. Once they were torn away, that soul would never be quite the same again, and it was difficult, if not impossible, to restore that soul to it's former state.

'_Um, that's a depressing thought… Okay, on to something else.'_ Jiang decided, slowly standing up as he thought, still cradling the flowers within his strong hands. He was starting to consider taking a walk around the Gazebo, to stretch his legs a little and get ready for Tigress, who would likely arrive in fifteen to twenty minutes.

After standing silently for several minutes, Jiang decided that a walk was a fine idea. The tiger turned and walked towards the steps leading down from the Gazebo, his gaze focused on what was immediately in front of his feet as he walked.

The tiger froze in his tracks as he reached the exit, though, as he saw a pair of tiger feet in front of him, at the bottom of the pair of steps leading into the small structure. He started to open his muzzle to apologize for quite nearly walking into the owner of those feet, at the same time looking up towards that person's face, but no words flowed from his muzzle.

Rather, he just stood there, gazing down at Tigress. _'Gods above, she's… Wow.' _

"Hello Jiang." Tigress said softly, giving Jiang a small, slightly sheepish smile. "Mind if I come on up?"

It took the male tiger several seconds to regain his composure and get over his first look of Tigress, who looked so perfect, so relaxed in her new clothes. After pulling himself back together, he piped up. "Not at all, Tigress." He replied, extending a single hand to her to assist the feline master in entering the Gazebo.

While Tigress was normally quite independent and would likely balk at the concept of accepting someone's help in a task as simple as ascending a pair of steps, she just couldn't refuse her friend's gesture. The feline placed her hand in Jiang's, felt his much larger hand close gently around hers, and then provide a unyielding handhold for her to make use of as she entered the gazebo.

"Thank you, Jiang." Tigress spoke, removing her hand from Jiang's after entering the gazebo. "Can we sit on the riverside of the Gazebo?" She added in, her smile becoming less and less nervous as she spoke, and more at ease around her friend.

Jiang just returned her smile with one of his own and nodded once, then followed after Tigress as she moved to the bench that was facing the peaceful little river that flowed into the Village. As Tigress settled down on the bench, Jiang placed the bouquet of flowers down on the end of the bench, then proceeded to begin lighting the five paper lanterns that hung about the Gazebo, each one a different color.

"How did your day go, Tigress?" Jiang asked, striking a match he had bought from a fireworks vendor in town and lighting the first of the lanterns with it.

"It was uneventful. I spent most of my time studying in the Hall of Heroes. What about your day?"

"Fairly boring. Aside from a run-in with an annoying village Magistrate, the only interesting things that happened to me all day was a chance run-in with Liu's eldest son, Jinhai, and spending a little time playing with her youngest boy, Bai." The tiger replied, having lit another two of the lamps, and proceeding onto the fourth.

"Liu and her two sons are my neighbors. They're an amazing little family. They helped me to get on my feet when I first arrived in the Valley of Peace." Jiang explained as he finished lighting the fourth lantern, then with the last bits of the match, he scurried over to the remaining lantern and lit it.

He extinguished the match and placed it in a small clay dish underneath the final lantern, then moved back to Tigress, settling into place alongside her, but keeping a comfortable distance between them.

The tiger took a deep breath, then let it out in a quiet sigh. He knew that delaying the act of apologizing to Tigress was not a good idea, and he didn't want to seem like he was dallying. So, he abandoned any trace of what he had been speaking of, and started apologizing.

"I… I've never been good with apologies, Tigress. I become nervous and my words get jumbled up as I speak. I never seem to be able to say what I mean, or I just give up on apologizing and hope everything is just forgotten. But tonight I won't let myself give up; I can't." He began, staring out of the gazebo at the river, sitting a mere thirty yards away from them.

The tiger turned his gaze to Tigress, looking into those auburn eyes of hers and continuing to speak. "Tigress, nearly twenty years ago, I made a mistake. I broke a promise I had made to you. I left you behind when I was adopted from Bao Gu, and that completely changed how your life played out. I was young and naïve, but that doesn't change the fact that I didn't keep a promise I had made, and that I hurt you by breaking that promise. I don't know how mere words can ever repair the trust that I damaged by not keeping that promised, and honestly, I won't blame you if you don't trust me ever again. But, Tigress… I am so sorry for what I did. And I ask for your forgiveness."

Through it all, Tigress remained perfectly silent, carefully studying Jiang's expressions and tone of voice as he spoke. His quiet tone of voice carried guilt in it, and his expression was one of sincere remorse. Still more evidence of his guilt was in those soft brown eyes that were locked upon her own eyes. She knew that Jiang was speaking from the heart, and that everything he said was sincere.

That only made it even easier for Tigress to voice her response to her friend's words.

"I forgive you, Jiang." She replied in a equally soft tone, another rare, warm smile stretching across her lips as she turned slightly and wrapped her arms tightly around Jiang, giving the amur tiger a gentle hug.

Jiang had been hoping for forgiveness, but not even in his wildest dreams had he expected a hug. But he was all too happy to return the gesture. The tiger turned his upper torso slightly towards Tigress, then slipped his muscular arms around her upper torso and drew her up against him, hugging her close to his warm frame. "Thank you." He whispered softly, resting his head alongside Tigress's.

Tigress didn't respond vocally, instead she just hugged Jiang a little tighter and smiled. She was glad that their past was behind them, for it meant that her and her friend's relationship could move forward once again, unhindered by the troublesome memories or the confining walls of Bao-Gu orphanage and the caregivers of that loathsome place.

She remained within Jiang's embrace for quite a while, content to stay snuggled up with him for the entire night, right up until she finally noticed the flowers on the end of the bench behind Jiang. "Are those lilies?" She asked quietly, slowly pulling away ever so slightly so that she could see Jiang's face.

The Amur tiger nodded once, then removed a arm from around Tigress, leaned back slightly and retrieved the bouquet, and then moved back to his previous position, offering Tigress the bouquet. "I picked them myself. I hope you like them." He spoke softly, watching as Tigress removed her arms from around him and gently plucked the bundle of flowers from his hand.

"I don't like them, I love them, Jiang. They're perfect." Tigress said, bringing them up to her nose and inhaling slightly, enjoying the scent of the lilies.

Her friend smiled and plucked a single lily with a short stem out of the bouquet, then wordlessly tucked it behind her ear, where her fur managed to hold it into place.

"I'm glad to hear that, Tigress." He replied softly, draping a single arm around her back as he did so and lightly placing it on her far shoulder, lightly hugging her up against him.

Tigress rested her head on Jiang's shoulder and continued to examine the flowers, and for a moment, happily losing herself within his warm embrace, the scent of the flowers, and the peaceful babbling of the distant river.

After some time of peaceful silence passed, Jiang spoke again. "So Tigress, care to fill me in on what's happened in the life of my best friend since I've been gone?" He asked in a soft, upbeat tone, gazing at his friend with a bright smile on his muzzle and his ears perked.

"Oh, I wouldn't even know where to begin, Jiang." Tigress replied with a quiet chuckle. "But, let's see… For starters, there was this time when I was really little, after Shifu had taken me in, that I was playing in the courtyard of the Jade Palace with Master Oogway, and…" From there, Tigress began to relay to Jiang every little detail that had happened within her eventful life, eagerly sharing her past with the Amur Tiger she was snuggled up against. Both were utterly oblivious to the world around them, as the only thing that mattered to the pair of striped felines was the tale Tigress was sharing.

_At the Jade Palace…_

Meanwhile though, at the Jade Palace, things were nowhere near as peaceful as the environment in which the two tigers were nestled within. Although Viper and company had long ago finished modifying the storeroom into a bedroom, and despite Zheng having returned safe and sound, though with no new information about the incoming student, everyone was excited and eagerly awaiting the arrival of their new 'guest'.

Well, everyone aside from Shifu and Zheng, that is. Shifu was not exactly enthused with the idea of having another student running around. After all, Po alone was enough work for him and the Furious Five. As for Zheng, well, he was just afraid of being eaten.

The group had long ago congregated in the main Courtyard of the Jade Palace, all eyes focused upon the massive gates that made up the primary entrance into the Palace from the outside world.

The Furious Five and Po were still heartily debating over what manner of creature would be arriving, though the group had long ago concluded that their visitor was most certainly neither feline or canine, and that the most likely species of the new student was a gorilla or ape. Well, most of them had concluded such.

Po was still enamored with the thought of them having a lion as their visitor, and Monkey had decided that Po was right and thus was also set on a lion being the incoming student.

The other four warriors thought they were crazy, of course.

"Come on Po, admit it, the thought of a lion, of all creatures, coming to China and seeking training in Martial Arts, is pretty far-fetched!" Mantis stated, from his perch atop Monkey's shoulder.

"Yeah, but it'd be AWESOME if he was a lion!" Po replied.

"Well, I think Tigress has hit you in the head one too many times, Po." Mantis retorted, causing Viper, who was coiled up near Po, to giggle and toss in a comment of her own. "Mantis, you'd be messed up too if Tigress hit you as hard as she smacks around Po."

After letting their banter continue for several more moments, Master Shifu decided to make his presence known. "Quiet down, our guest should be here in a minute."

Crane, Mantis, Monkey, Po, and Viper all immediately quieted themselves and, once again, all attention was focused on the front gate of the Courtyard.

A minute passed, then two, then five; and still nothing happened. Everyone was starting to get a little edgy, even Shifu. "Maybe the stairs slowed him down?" Viper suggested, looking about at everyone else from her current position.

Just as Crane opened his beak to respond to her, a heavy 'thump' noise came from the other side of the main gate, nabbing his attention, along with everyone elses.

A second 'thump' came just moments after the first, followed by a third, and a fourth, thus confirming what everyone was thinking: Footsteps. Really big, heavy footsteps.

The 'thump' sounds drew closer and closer to the gate, and with each thunderous footfall, everyone's gaze tilted higher and higher, as if expecting a titan to march through the gates.

When the gate's started slowly opening inwards, the creatures gathered within the Courtyard held their breath, waiting to see what manner of being would march into the Courtyard.

Much to their surprise, the Gates only opened wide enough to admit a single individual, nowhere near enough to allow the entry of a creature massive enough to make the kind of footfalls they had been hearing.

Their gaze fell back to the base of the gates, and instead of seeing a titan, they saw a single individual, who was actually a little shorter than Po, come walking into the Courtyard, with footfalls so silent that even Tigress would be impressed by his quiet movement. He was shrouded in darkness by the shadow of the gates, and only when he entered the Courtyard, which was well illuminated by dozens of paper lanterns strung across the area, were they able to get a look at their guest.

He was a massive feline, roughly 6 feet and 10 inches in height. His muscle-packed frame was covered in short dark brown fur, with the fur of his chin and the inside of his arms a mocha color. Atop his head was a rich black mane, which he wore in dreadlocks dipping down just a hair past his shoulders, though to keep the mane from getting in his way, the dreadlocks had been bound into a loose ponytail of sorts. The mane had been carefully trimmed away so that his throat and the sides of his neck, along with his chest, was not touched by the mane, leaving him looking more 'civilized', in a way.

He was simply garbed, wearing only a olive green vest and pants, both of which had black trim. Strips of tan cloth were wrapped about his palms and wrists in the manner of bandages, likely to provide some measure of protection in a fight, and the same strips of cloth were wrapped about his ankles, just above the study sandals the feline wore.

As for his features, it was easy to tell that the male was in his late twenties, and was rugged but handsome in appearance. He possessed a strong jaw line and somewhat heavy facial features, along with the black nose common to dark-furred felines.

The male feline, now identified beyond the shadow of a doubt as a lion, quickly strode towards Shifu, his dark blue eyes darting back and forth between the different members of the assembled warriors in front of him, examining each of them.

A friendly smile adorned his muzzle as he came to just within a few yards of Shifu and Company. The leonine warrior curled his right hand into a fist and placed it into the palm of his other hand, giving a short but respectful bow to Shifu as he introduced himself.

"It is an honor to finally meet you, Master Shifu. I am Jamall Mohatu."

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

More A/N Awesomeness: Oh noez! Another cliffhanger. Well, at least it's not as terrible as the last two.

I'm certain that after reading this, everyone can tell that there's a few rushed parts of the story, and that's fine, 'cuz I did short of rush it. This went from about 2,000 words to 11,233 words in the few writing sessions I allowed myself in the desperate scramble to complete this chapter, so I'm sure it's shoddy.

However, I did manage to accomplish two things I wanted to do, one of which was introducing Jinhai's mother Liu, and the other, was introducing another character into the mix who might just spell trouble for Jiang, Tigress, and the rest of the crew later on… But on the flip side, he might turn out to be a great friend. Only time will tell, I suppose!

Truth be told, I was VERY tempted to just keep pounding away at the keyboard until I had gotten some more interaction out between Jamall and the Gang, and between Tigress and Jiang, but I made myself stop. xP

Now, onto some replies to reviews! ^.^

**Corset-Rebellion-Follower: **Thank you for the positive review! I'm terribly sorry that I didn't update in march, but at least I didn't do something silly and die, thus dooming the story to a state of incompletion. lol.

And you are completely right about Jiang; he just doesn't seem to have a whole lot of luck with people. Poor guy. XD

**Telracs1994:** Aw, thank you! I'm really glad my writing is awesome, and I hope that this chapter lived up to your expectations.

**Sweetdeath04:** Glad that you're interested in what happens! I hope that this chapter was a pleasant read for you.

**And to all those who fav'd this story or subscribed to update alerts... Thank you very much! :D **


	5. Chapter 4

[A/N: ZOMG, it's been MONTHS since I've updated! I'm terribly sorry everyone, I just got so BUSY! Rest assured, I'm going to do my best to be better about updates from here on out. Anyways, right after a brief retcon alert and the much-hated Disclaimer, we can get right to another near-10,000 words of story! Yay!]

[Retcon Alert: Ah, the retcon alert… While I hate myself for having to do this, I shaved 7 inches off Jamall's height, bringing him down to 6'3". It was brought to my attention that Po is around 6'4", and having a lion running around who is half a foot taller than the dragon warrior himself just wouldn't do. Sorry everyone, I didn't want to pull a retcon on you, but I just couldn't bring myself to allow Jamall to continue as the Palace Giant. xP ]

**Disclaimer: **I do not own or hold any stake in Dreamworks, nor do I own Kung Fu Panda or the characters and locations created by Dreamworks for Kung-Fu Panda. HOWEVER, All Original Characters and Locales, including Dong Jiang, Jamall Mohatu, Seamstress Liu, and others who have appeared or have yet to appear, are my property and are not to be used without my express permission.

Note: You can _have_ that annoying little pig Magistrate I created a couple chapters ago. I don't care about him. lol. Now, on to the story!

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

"_It is an honor to finally meet you, Master Shifu. I am Jamall Mohatu."_

Shifu paused for several seconds after the lion spoke, staring at the powerfully built creature with a rather shocked expression. He quickly regained his composure and returned the warrior's respectful bow with one of his own, then welcomed the newcomer.

"Welcome to the Jade Palace, Jamall Mohatu." He stated, clasping his hands behind his back as he rose to his full height again, and watching as his new student stood tall and folded his arms across his chest. "This is Master Crane, Master Viper, Master Mantis, Master Crane, and… Master Po, the Dragon Warrior." The red panda gestured to each of the warriors as he spoke their names, and they all performed the customary bow and greeted Jamall, though Po was somewhat giddy and barely able to keep himself restrained due to the fact that Jamall was indeed a lion.

"Pleased to meet you all." Jamall replied, giving the assembled warriors a bright smile. '_Odd, I could have sworn that Master Qingshan said there was a tigress amongst them. Oh well._' The lion thought, returning his gaze to Shifu as the diminutive master spoke.

"I would normally spend more time on introductions, Jamall, but it is a vast distance between here and the Imperial City, and I imagine that the last thing you desire is to stand there on tired feet and listen to all the questions I'm sure my students have for you. So, Master Viper will help you to settle in here. She will show you your quarters, give you a quick explanation of how things work around here, and also help you to learn the layout of the Jade Palace, if you feel up to it tonight. If you are hungry, I'm certain Master Po would be happy to provide you something to eat. And if there is something else you require, feel free to ask. I'm sure one of us will be able to help you."

Jamall nodded once after Shifu finished speaking. "That sounds great, Master Shifu. Thank you."

Mere moments after the lion spoke, Shifu turned and addressed the others present, not really paying much attention to Viper as she slithered over to Jamall, politely asked the lion to follow her, and then lead the maned feline off towards the barracks.

"Monkey, Mantis, Po, please go and inspect the Training Hall. It has gone nearly two weeks without any sort of maintenance. While I would rather you inspect the hall tonight, you can do it in the morning if you would prefer, but if you do put it off, please give the new student some space while he settles in. Crane, would you come with me to the Hall of Heroes? I would like some help putting the Thousand Scrolls back into order, as some of them seem to have been replaced in their homes upon the shelves in the wrong order."

A chorus of 'Yes Master' was heard from the assembled group, with the exception of Po, whose response was less-than-energetic 'Okay'. They disbanded immediately afterwards; Shifu and Crane headed to the Hall of Heroes, while the rest of them moved off to the Training Hall.

Jamall and Viper reached the barracks just after the others had taken their leave of the Courtyard. The leonine warrior slid the door open for Viper, waited for her to enter, then stepped inside after her, closed the door, and followed behind her as she moved along to wherever it was that his room was located.

"Paper walls…" He thought aloud in an almost curious tone, gazing at the rice paper walls and doors as he moved along.

"Yes, most of the walls in the barracks are just a wood framework covered with paper. Is that a problem?" Viper asked, pausing and looking back at the lion following her.

"Oh, no. It's just that the last time I slept in a room with paper walls, I rolled off my bed and right through the wall into the next room. I won't go into detail, but it was a very embarrassing experience that I'd rather not repeat." Jamall chuckled, taking his gaze off the walls and looking down at Viper.

The serpent master laughed quietly, then grinned and piped up in response. "Ah, I see! Well, don't worry about rolling through the walls of your room; they're made of wood." She replied, turning her attention back to the hall ahead of her and continuing to lead Jamall to his room after she finished speaking.

Viper began to ask a question, with the aim of finding out more about the lion following her, when she heard a sudden creak from the floor behind her. She glanced behind her again, and grinned when she saw Jamall frozen in place, toes of one foot tentatively resting upon the very floorboard that Po had broken not too long ago.

"Erm… Kind of a noisy floorboard, I'll have to remember to avoid that one." The lion muttered, cautiously stepping to the side and giving the squeaky board a wide berth.

"Don't worry about it, Jamall. Most of the floorboards here are a little squeaky. Spend a couple months with us though, and you'll learn which ones to avoid."

The lion thought for a few moments, then chuckled and grinned. "Maybe I should just spend a night stepping on every floorboard, and marking each of the squeaky ones with a big red 'X'. Sounds faster, and I could spend more time sleeping and training than avoiding noisy floorboards."

"It probably would be quicker, but I think Tigress would kill you for all the squeaking you'd make that night!" Viper quipped.

"Who's Tigress?"

The serpent master paused for a moment, then grinned and started moving off again. "You'll find out soon enough. If not tonight, then tomorrow morning."

Jamall slightly quirked one eyebrow at Viper's reply, then he shrugged and moved off after her.

A few moments of travel later, and they arrived at the end of the barracks. While around the time of Tai Lung's second rampage, there had been a solid wall there, Shifu had seen fit to add a small storeroom to the structure there, and so in place of the previous wall was a solid wood one with a sliding door. Both the new wall and door had a faux rice paper wall placed over them to help the room hide amongst the other walls.

The faux wall over the door had been removed when the storeroom had been converted into a bedroom, and so there was no momentary pause needed for Jamall to locate and open the door, and step into his room, followed moments after by Viper.

It had fairly spartan furnishings, consisting only of a single-person bed that was only slightly elevated above the floor and sat tucked up against the far wall of the room, a small wooden nightstand placed between the head of the bed and the wall, a woven floor mat that occupied the center of the room, and a dresser and shelving unit flanking either side of the doorway, with the dresser on the right side and the shelving unit on the left.

"Hey, this is pretty nice. I like it." Jamall commented, turning around once and looking over the small room.

"I'm glad to hear that." Viper replied, moving over to the nightstand and slithering up upon it, taking care to avoid bumping the trio of lit candles that sat atop it, and watching as Jamall sat down on the edge of the bed, kicked off his sandals, then turned and laid back on the bed, sighing happily and placing his hands, palms-up, under his head as a sort of impromptu pillow.

After relaxing for a second, he tilted his head back so that he could see Viper. "So, Master Shifu that you'd tell me how things worked around here, right?"

Viper nodded and spoke up in response. "Indeed he did! So, here's a rough explanation as to what the usual schedule here is. Same time every morning, a gong rings; that's the signal to assemble outside the Barracks. Shifu or Zeng is always waiting to tell us what the plan is for the day. The gong normally rings about an hour after first light, but that hour is ours in which to prepare ourselves for the coming day. So clean up, eat, get dressed, so on and so forth… After the gong has rung, we'll be constantly busy with whatever plans Shifu has drafted for us, with only one break for lunch. About an hour and a half before sundown, the gong will ring a second time; that's the signal that the day is done, and so then you can basically do whatever you want, so long as you don't leave the Jade Palace or cause any trouble."

The lion paused a moment, replaying what Viper had said in his mind and committing it to memory. "Sounds pretty straightforward." He commented, his tail lazily swaying back and forth as he spoke, and a yawn slipping from his muzzle right after he finished talking.

"Tired?"

"Yeah. I've been running almost all day, with only one break to eat and drink around midday." After speaking, Jamall yawned again and tilted his head so that he was staring at the ceiling, then allowed his tired, droopy eyelids to slide partway closed.

"Then I take it that you'd like to sleep now, rather than join us for dinner?"

Viper didn't get an answer in words. The dozy leonine warrior just nodded once, then let his tired muscles relax, his frame visibly loosening up as he did so. "See you in the morning then, Jamall." The serpentine master said quietly, taking a moment to snuff out the candles on the nightstand before slithering down and towards the door. She paused, though, and glanced back over at the lion. "By the way, that stamping noise outside the main gates, did you happen to see who or what was causing it?"

"There was an elephant out there delivering something. The big oaf nearly flattened me." Jamall chuckled tiredly, then added in. "Goodnight, Master Viper. See you in the morning."

"Hmm, I didn't think we had any deliveries tonight… Ah, well. Goodnight Jamall, sleep well!" And with that, she moved out of the lion's room and slid the door shut behind her, then made her way towards the Kitchen where, she assumed, the others would be gathering after finishing their tasks.

_**~In the Valley of Peace~**_

Tigress was not exactly sure how much time had passed while she shared the story of her life after Bao Gu. It could have been thirty minutes; it could have been two hours. Ultimately, though, she didn't care. The striped master was more than happy to simply be spending time with her oldest friend.

She was still curled up against Jiang, one of the Amur Tiger's muscular arms still draped around her and keeping her comfortably nestled against him. The carpenter still had a smile on his muzzle, and Tigress suspected that if that smile stayed on his lips for too much longer, it'd be permanently glued on. She didn't mind the thought of that though; Jiang's smile was somewhat infectious, after all.

A few moments of silence had passed since Tigress wrapped up her long tale, but before Jiang even got a chance to speak his mind about her past, she asked him a question of her own.

"Now that you know of my story, I would like to know what's been going on in your life since I haven't been around to keep you out of trouble." Tigress queried, a smile appearing on her muzzle as she rested her head on Jiang's shoulder, patiently awaiting his reply.

"You wouldn't be interested in my past, Tigress." Jiang replied with a brief chuckle, softly caressing her far shoulder with his hand as he spoke. "Besides; it's a long story, and most of it's…" He paused a moment and softly bit his lower lip as he searched for the proper word to express his thoughts on his past, his smile disappearing as he racked his mind for that perfect verbal expression. "Haunting, for lack of a better word."

The striped warrior sat up a little straighter and picked her head up off Jiang's shoulder; locking gazes with the amur tiger as she did so. "I take it your past is not a happy one, then."

Jiang nodded once and offered up a faint smile as he spoke in response; "My past is like any other person's story; it has its ups and downs. Though my past does have more downs than I'd like. But seeing you again… Seeing you, again and being here with you tonight; this makes everything I've gone through in life worth it." Jiang replied, his tone soft and sincere.

Tigress couldn't help herself; a warm smile crossed her muzzle as she brought her hand up to Jiang's cheek and tenderly pawed at the warm fur covering the side of his muzzle. "You have no idea just how sweet that sounded, do you?" She queried, a quiet purr accompanying her words as she continued to gaze fondly at Jiang.

Her tiger friend just shrugged once and smiled back at her, all the while nuzzling against the appendage Tigress had brought to rest against his furry cheek.

"I didn't think so." She chuckled, her own purring growing louder as she heard the same contented sound rumbling from Jiang's throat. Tigress didn't move or speak again for some time; as both cats were enjoying the peaceful quietness that had descended over them.

After what felt like an eternity of comfortable silence passed, Jiang finally saw fit to pipe up. Though his words did not touch on a topic that he enjoyed speaking of, and one that Tigress was sure to dislike even more than he did. "It's starting to get late, Tigress. What time did Master Shifu want you back? I don't want him to come down here and skin me alive for kidnapping you, you know." The tiger asked, a quiet laugh accompanying his final words to strike a preemptive blow against the sullen mood his statement was sure to bring about.

Master Shifu. Oh, how Tigress suddenly despised being his student! He would certainly want her to be back before long, and that would bring an unwelcome end to her pleasant evening with her best friend, Jiang, one that had quickly evolved from a simple apology session to a lengthy and fairly romantic night spent cuddled up against him, happily chattering his fuzzy ears off.

"He will probably be expecting me back within the next half-hour…" She sighed, sitting up straight once again and reluctantly placing her hands in her lap in preperation to rise to her feet. Tigress opened her muzzle to apologize for having to leave, but before she could, Jiang spoke up.

"Then you should get going. It'll take at least twenty minutes to get to the Jade Palace from here. Besides, it's not like we live worlds apart; we can always find the time to spend time with one another." He said, whilst rising to his feet.

The carpenter extended one hand to Tigress to help her up. While she needed no assistance, she accepted his offer; gently clasping her hand in his and offering up a grateful smile as he helped her to her feet. "That's true… So, I suppose now would be the time for goodbyes, yes?" She murmured, allowing her hands to fall to her hips once she was standing, as Jiang moved to stand just a few short inches in front of her.

He simply nodded in response, so Tigress tacked on another comment to her previous statement. "Then goodnight, Jiang. Tonight was a lot of fun for me; thank you. I haven't been this relaxed in a long time." She purred, wrapping her arms around Jiang's midsection and hugging him tight.

The amur tiger returned her hug wholeheartedly, wrapping his powerful arms around her upper torso and giving her a gentle squeeze. "G'night, Tigress. Tonight was fun for me too, I'd love to just hang out with you again sometime soon. I promise, I'll spill the beans on my past next time." He replied, as the two cats simultaneously released one another.

Without further ado, both bid one final goodbye, then split off in separate directions to head back to their own homes; with Jiang taking a path straight back to the village, and Tigress taking a shortcut back to the stairs leading to the Jade Palace.

_**~Morning~**_

At the Jade Palace, the first being to awaken was, surprisingly enough, neither Master Shifu nor Tigress. Rather, it was their latest visitor; the maned warrior known as Jamall Mohatu. Granted, he had beaten them to a state of alertness by mere minutes. Still, first light saw the lion out of bed, dressed, and otherwise prepared for the day ahead of him.

As he had no clue as to what time the morning gong would ring, aside from what Viper had told him the previous night, he had at first endeavoured to divert his attention to the array of spare clothes provided within the dresser in his room. None of them looked like they would fit them, aside from a few pairs of indigo trousers he found stashed in the dresser's bottom drawer. Those looked as though they might fit the lion, despite his imposing height of 6'3". Had he had a clue about the fashion preferences of the power-hungry leopard known as Tai Lung, he might just have realized that the pants he had stumbled across had belonged to that particular feline, and thus had marked them off as forbidden clothing.

However, Jamall, being the occasionally clueless fellow he was, simply decided that although the color was not one he'd choose, he would wear the trousers should he need a change of clothes later on.

After spending an incredible three minute rifling through the available clothes, Jamall found himself becoming somewhat bored. He was eager to begin training and to see more of the Jade Palace, so eager that he found himself hardly able to sit still despite all his training to maintain a patient nature. Therefore, following a brief internal debate over the wisdom of leaving the barracks early, he tiptoed his way out of the structure, intent on finding something constructive with which to occupy his newfound free time.

The lion spent a little time simply wandering the grounds in his search for activites, idly poking his nose into the Hall of Heroes and the kitchen before finally stumbling across the Training Hall.

The Training Hall instantly seized his attention. In the past, the most equipment he had had to train with was perhaps a few dummies, a punching bag, some gravel and pebble filled canvas bags for Iron Palm training, and a few weights for basic strength training. Other than those few implements, he had to train with whatever he could come up with, or whomever he could find who was suicidal enough to train with him.

But the Hall, filled with it's innumerable tools and devices, ranging from the Seven Swinging Clubs of Instant Oblivion to a hoarde of Spiked Dummies who were even equipped with spinning limbs! A Jade Tortoise Shell, Bladed Rings hanging from the ceiling, Fire Tubes in the back… Oh yes. Needless to say, Jamall instantly fell in love with the place.

At first, he did little more than walk around the sunken training area on the boarded floor running around it, carefully examining every tool available to him. He honestly had no clue where to begin. Fighting through the Gauntlet of Wooden Warriors was extremely tempting, but at the same time, he was also eager to train with the Fire Tubes and the Swinging Clubs of Instant Oblivion, as both would certainly increase his agility.

After some debate, he finally settled on spending a few minutes within the Gauntlet of Wooden Warriors. He shed his vest, as he didn't want it damaged in the event he slipped up and was struck by one of the dummie's spiked limbs, and without further ado, silently pounced right into the middle of the Gauntlet.

He landed in a rough crouch between a pair of dummies, and then the leonine individual formed his hands into Leopard Fists - the main striking weapon of the Leopard Style - and shot upwards as he launched an attack on the dummy to his right. Lashing out with a spinning kick, he caught the wooden target's uppermost set of arms, tearing one of the spiky appendages completely off. Using the momentum built up as he spun to the ground, he twisted and thrust his right palm forward into the dummy's center of mass, shattering several of it's core panels.

Jamall narrowly blocked a retaliatory swing from the remaining upper arm of the dummy, and promptly removed the limb with an efficient upwards punch, followed by a left hook punch right to the dummy's head, which cleaved it from its wood shoulders.

As the wooden cranium and it's entourage of splinters sailed off to parts unknown, the lion's attention turned to the other dummy, who had been standing peacefully behind him as it had not been struck, and thus had been given no momentum with which to swing it's limbs.

Jamall didn't intend to give it a chance to attack. He struck it with a double open-palm atack, both hands targeting the center panel, at a weak point right between the middle and lower sets of arms. The blow sent a crippling shockwave through the center of the dummy, causing it to shatter in a spectacular cloud of sawdust and wood shrapnel.

The wooden warrior's severed torso fell backwards into another dummy, crushing it beneath its weight. A flying limb caught the arm of another dummy, setting its weapon-arms spinning wildly about. With three dummies down and only one that could currently present a threat, Jamall felt that his warm-up was going pretty well, but he did not let it go to his head. Overconfidence leads to failure, after all.

He sprung into action against the fourth target, rending it limb from limb with terrifying efficiency. It was not the last to fall though; the maned warrior was quite enjoying himself, and was ripping through the Gauntlet of Wooden Warriors, wreaking havoc on every dummy unfortunate enough to find itself in his way.

The sounds of battle eminating from the Training Hall did not go unnoticed by the rest of the Jade Palace, however. While the other masters, with the exception of perhaps Shifu, were still resting, Tigress had awoken shortly after Jamall, and the noises of the lion's early-morning training did not go unnoticed by her.

She had been in the middle of penning a new entry in her diary when she heard a faint snap echo through the crisp morning air, which was easily detected by her keen feline ears. The sound piqued Tigress's curiosity, and so the lithe warrior closed up her diary and tucked it away in its hiding place, and hurriedly changed out of her nightgown ane into her training clothes. While she was clad in her trademark black pants, her usual red floral vest was gone, and in it is stead she wore a simple gold-accented black vest that was just a hair too tight for her.

She did not welcome the change in attire, but due to the untimely end of her favorite vest, she had little choice but to wear the black top. It was either that or wear the same blue outfit from before, which was definetly not an option. She did not want to risk ruining that set of clothing in a training mishap, after all!

The moment she was dressed, she quietly dashed out of the barracks and towards the Training Hall, taking care to make as little noise as possible as so to avoid waking anyone who might still be sleeping. She was half-expecting Crane to be the source of the aural disturbance as he was an early riser, just as she was. But somehow, she sensed that whoever was making that racket in the training hall was not anyone she was familiar with.

And sure enough, that instinct of hers was right. When she reached the training hall and pushed the doors open as she slowed to a walk, those auburn eyes of hers were met not with the sight of a familiar creature hammering away at the Wooden Warriors, but rather, at the sight of an unusual feline she had never seen before.

While normally, she would immediately confront anyone in the Jade Palace who she was unfamiliar with or appeared to be trespassing, but the way he seemed to have made himself at home in the Training Hall both dulled her desire to confront him and further piqued her curiosity, and demanded further investigation… From afar.

As he was so busy blocking and dodging the rapid spinning blows of a trio of dummies that were surrounding him, Tigress took the opportunity to leap up onto one of the wooden braces that held the roof up. The striped warrior snaked around the criss-crossing support beams until she reached a point right above the lion, and then crouched down in the shadows. The result was that the maned cat was unaware of her presence, yet the black-clad Tigress was able to easily study him and his every move.

Now positioned above him, the feline master began to carefully observe the bare-chested warrior below. He was an intimidating sight, that much was certain. He was nearly as tall as Po, and his powerful-looking frame was packed with muscles that rippled under his short fur with every attack. He was nearly as strongly built as Tai Lung, though unlike the leopard, his body was more toned, and his muscle mass almost equally distributed through his frame.

To go along with that mighty body of his, the feline possessed great skill. The way he seemingly effortlessly deflected the assaults of the dummies and retaliated with lethally fast and precise blows was a testament to his fighting prowess. Clearly, he was not one to be trifled with.

She patiently observed the lion for a while longer, until she felt that she had learned all that she could simply by spying on him. Tigress gracefully dropped down from the beam to the floor of the Training Hall, at a point several yards behind Jamall. She rose to her full height and folded her arms over her chest, assumed an emotionless expression, and then called out to the lion in a clear, businesslike tone. "I assume you have a good reason for making such a racket this early in the day."

Jamall had not at all been expecting to be disturbed. Especially not when he was right in the middle of duking it out with a particularly resilient dummy, which kept on fighting even though he had tore off its head and all but two of its arms. However, just as he began to lift a hand to block an incoming strike from the middle set of arms, to prevent it from striking his chest, a firm, feminine voice drifted into his ears, startling him.

The rapidly approaching spiked arm was deflected with a careless forearm block just a moment before Jamall whipped around to face whoever was speaking to him. Needless to say, he was pleasantly surprised by the sight of the young woman who had disturbed him. A picture-perfect tigress, no more than twenty-five years of age, clad in a somewhat form-fitting black outfit that accented her lithe form just enough to be easy on the eyes, yet not so much to be indecent.

The vision of Tigress was so captivating that it momentarily stole the complete attention of the lion, and thus the recently deflected arm of the dummy was forgotten, as was the fact that it could spin both ways. The arm made an uninvited reapparance at the most inopportune of times, just when he was about to reply to Tigress's words.

Almost the precise moment Jamall parted his lips to speak, the swinging appendage came flying 'round, and delivered a painful blow right between his shoulder blades. The force of the strike caused Jamall to stagger slightly. He nearly lost his footing, but luckily he was able to right himself and avoid any further injury to himself or his pride.

Jamall took a quick step forward away from the dummy and peered back over his shoulder at the thing, glaring daggers at the vengeful little monster. He was absolutely positive that it was laughing its butt off at him, but as he couldn't exactly flip out and pummel it into submission, he turned his gaze to Tigress and made a second attempt to respond to the question she had posed to him.

"Sorry if I woke you. I didn't think anyone at the barracks would be able to hear me." He began with a quick apology, and rubbing the back of his neck at the same time. "I just figured I'd get warmed up before the morning gong rang."

By now, Tigress was staring at the lion in front of her as if he was mad. He was speaking as if he was a student of Shifu's! Had Shifu nabbed another student while she was off cuddling with Jiang? However, there had to be some reason as to why he comfortable enough to act how he did, and she was determined to find out what that reason was.

And that meant taking a rather direct approach with her questioning. "You speak as if you are another student here at the Jade Palace. Did I fail to notice the memo regarding a new student here, or are you simply in the habit of showing up in other people's training halls at random?" While she was speaking in a blunt manner, no hostility was evident in her voice. She simply saw no reason to be aggressive with the lion, especially since he had given her no reason to do so… Not yet, anyways.

Jamall chuckled once and allowed a smile to tug at the corner of his lips. "It would be the former, rather than the latter. I arrived just last night, I'm actually a little surprised nobody let you know I was here. Anyways, I'm going to assume that you are Tigress, correct? Master Viper made a passing reference to you when she showed me to my room last night, and helped me to settle in."

While Tigress would normally have instantly corrected Jamall by informing him that she was _Master_ Tigress, not just Tigress, for some odd reason she failed to inform him of his minor mistake when she spoke again. "You're correct. But now it seems that you know my name, and yet, I do not know yours." She replied, a faint smirk etched onto her muzzle as she spoke.

"Oh, sorry. My name is Jamall Mohatu. It's a pleasure to meet you, Tigress."

Jamall Mohatu. It was a very foreign name to Tigress. She had never heard of such a name before, not in her entire life, nor had she ever heard of anything similar to it. Not that that was a bad thing. It was exotic, and so in her mind, it fit the lion well. She filed that thought a way for future reference, and then posed to him another question that had been nagging at her ever since she had first laid eyes on him.

"It is a pleasure to meet you too, Jamall. Would you mind if I asked, what are you?"

Her question momentarily threw him. He was unsure what she was asking. He was a lion; to him, there was nothing unique about that, and he just went about assuming that everyone knew what species he was. But at the same time, he figured that she knew he was a student of Kung-Fu, and thus technically he was a Warrior, so he decided she couldn't be asking about that. After a few moments of internal debate, he felt as though his head was going to explode if he tried to figure it out himself, and so he admitted his confusion. "I'm… Sorry, I'm not quite sure what you're asking."

Tigress could barely keep herself from smiling at the utterly baffled expression that formed on Jamall's ruggedly handsome features as he tried to figure out her simple question. She had to admit, he did look just a little on the cute side when he looked clueless. And when a being as intimidating as Jamall could turn himself into a confused little furball that verged on being labeled as 'cute', it was always worth smiling at.

Pushing that thought aside, she answered in a slightly amused tone, "I'm asking what species you are."

"Oh... Well, err, I'm a lion." A touch of heat rose to Jamall's cheeks as a wave of embarrassment washed over him. He should have realized what she was asking, after all! Luckily, he hadn't gotten around to mentally kicking himself, and so he immediately noticed when Tigress piped up.

"A lion… I think I have heard of your kind before. You hail from Africa, yes?"

"Yes and no. I was born in Africa, but I was taken from there when I was eight." Jamall replied.

Now _that _really piqued Tigress's innate feline curiosity. "Taken?" She repeated, slightly quirking one eyebrow as she asked, "By that, do you mean that your family just moved, or do you mean that you… Were kidnapped?"

"It'd be the latter." The lion said, while rubbing the back of his neck with his right hand. "I was about eight years old when I was taken from my home in Africa. Can't say I miss the place though. I didn't have a very happy life there, not with my parents constantly at each other's throats."

Judging by Jamall's fairly neutral tone, Tigress didn't think it was a very touchy subject for him, and so pressed him a bit further. "It you don't mind my curiosity, where were you taken? And why were you kidnapped?"

"The Venetian Republic. It's a country in Europe, west of China. I lived there up until I was eighteen, then I managed to find a way aboard a merchant vessel and come here."

He paused a moment, his thin smile wavering slightly, then fading altogether as he answered her other question. "I was kidnapped because I was an exotic being to the citizens of the Republic, thus making me a valuable slave."

"Oh. I'm… Sorry. I did not mean to dredge up unpleasant memories for you, Jamall."

"It's fine, Tigress. It's been along time since I was in shackles. I'm over it."

"If you don't mind my asking… How bad was it? Being a slave?"

Jamall shrugged. "Not as bad as you might imagine." He replied, once again idly rubbing the back of his neck as he spoke. "I was educated and allowed to exercise. I was taught to fight. And I wasn't beaten or whipped, so compared to other slaves, I had it fairly easy. Well, until Eos came along, that is." He sighed, then shook his head and forced himself to smile faintly. "Ah, well, that's another tale for another time, once I've come to know you better. What happened between Eos and I is a very private matter, one I'll share in due time. I still haven't quite come to terms with what happened, despite the ten years that have passed since then."

Tigress took what information she had gained from Jamall, and moved on to another topic of his history, as now her focus had shifted to learning what had brought him to the Jade Palace. "I won't pester you about this 'Eos' you speak of, but I would like to know what you are doing here at the Jade Palace."

"Well, my master, a slightly crazy leopard named Huan, sent me to Master Qingshan of the Imperial City to seek out two things. One was counsel from a sage regarding… Something Master Huan saw inside me. The other was advanced training in my chosen style of Kung-Fu, Leopard Style. Master Qingshan could provide neither, and sent me here. He said that the Jade Palace would harbor answers that I couldn't find elsewhere."

If there was one thing Master Tigress was good at, it was discerning when someone was trying to hide something. Jamall spoke sincerely, up until he spoke of why he was seeking counsel from a wise man. Whatever this 'Master Huan' of his had seen in him, he didn't want her to know. Perhaps it was so shameful that he'd rather not admit it, or perhaps it was something worse.

Either way, she was going to find out.

"This thing your Master saw inside you, what is it?" She asked bluntly.

"Erm, well… Uhm… You see, I'm not entirely sure of that myself…" Jamall admitted, both paws falling to his sides as he spoke, his tail making nervous twitches every few seconds. "All he said was that there was conflict within me. He made a passing mention of it being a sign of some sort of… I don't know, some sort of darkness."

The lion paused, then laughed and kept speaking. "I think I'd know if I had a darkened heart. He probably took one too many kicks to the head and started imagining things, but… He is my Master, and I respect his wisdom and orders. That's why I'm here now, to see if I can figure this thing out and go home. I would appreciate it if you kept this between us, Tigress, at least until I can seek advice on it. It's kind of personal."

"I see." Tigress thought a moment, then asked, "If it's personal, why did you share it with me?"

A smile, not a forced or thin one but a genuinely warm smile, flickered across Jamall's rugged features as he spoke. "Honestly? I have no idea." He replied softly. "I just feel like I can trust you."

"And yet you've known me all of three minutes…"

Jamall just smiled again. "I never said my feelings made any sense."

She had no idea why, but she laughed. "You're right, they don't make any sense." She replied, folding her arms over her chest as she spoke. Tigress had to admit, it felt sort of good, knowing that he'd already placed some trust in her, yet at the same time, she had to wonder: Was he really that quick and insightful a judge of character? Or was he just naïve and trusting?

The lion, on the other paw, was not thinking of Tigress's personality, but of how beautiful her laugh was. It wasn't high-pitched and giggly like all the city-girl's laughs, no, it was… Softer, smoother, almost angelic. It was music to his ears, though he could easily say the same about her voice. Still, it was one of those things he kept to himself. He wasn't going to run around advertising how attractive he found her, after all.

"Okay, so so far, we've established I'm a ex-slave who came to China, took up Martial Arts, and whose master decided he's got a bit of darkness so he needs to seek guidance and whatnot. Oh, and we've also established that my thought process makes no sense whatsoever." Jamall said with a laugh, counting off fingers as he ran down the list.

"But I still don't know very much about you, other than Master Viper knows you, you live here, and you're a tigress named Tigress. Would you deck me if I asked you a little about yourself?"

Tigress shook her head. "No, I try to stay out of the habit of decking handsome newcomers. Ask away." She instantly laid into herself with a mental chastising session, berating herself for calling him handsome. She hardly knew him! It wasn't right, she wanted Jiang!

Whoa, did she just think that? She _wanted_ Jiang… Romantically? She hadn't thought about it before, and now, she was suddenly so very confused by her own feelings. Having virtually no experience in the love department, aside from a handful of dates Viper had forced her to go on, Tigress hadn't thought too much about how she had behaved with Jiang last night. But now that she did… Well, she was definetly confused, to say the least.

Luckily, she didn't have a chance to think on it, as Jiang's masculine voice once again spoke her name as he asked her about herself.

"So, Tigress, how long have you lived at the Palace?"

"In a few days it will be twenty-one years." She automatically responded, as she forced aside her previous trains of thought to be pondered upon at a later time. "Master Shifu adopted me from Bao Gu Orphanage when I was six. I've lived and trained here ever since."

"Does that make Master Shifu your father?"

"A father figure, yes. But he is my Master, not my father. He's made that… Very clear."

She had intended to say painfully clear, but stopped herself. No need to let the lion know just how cold and distant Shifu could be, or how utterly unapproachable he often was. The last few days, he had been in a miraculously good mood, as evidenced by the way he allowed her to meet with Jiang. It was a fluke, nothing more; he'd go back to being grumpy old Shifu in no time.

"Oh. I see." Jamall murmured, more so to himself than to Tigress. Even though she had changed her wording at the last moment, the lion was very talented when it came to reading others. And right now, Tigress had accidentally layed a bit of herself out like an open book. This Shifu, he was the only father she ever knew, but he was distant, cold. And it hurt her. Thus, he felt the need to apologize for intruding upon the matter.

"I'm sorry if that was a touchy subject, Tigress, I don't mean to pry into your life."

Tigress smiled very faintly and dismissed his apology with a brief shrug. "It's fine, Jamall. You couldn't have known. Not many people outside the Jade Palace do."

The lion sighed inwardly in relief; he hadn't crossed any lines with her.

"I do feel a little guilty for being, y'know, so curious." He said, returning her faint smile with a thin one of his own.

The striped warrior just allowed her smile to brighten as she shrugged once again and replied, "Don't worry about it. We're felines, curiosity is hard-wired into us, and the impulse to inquire and investigate is a very difficult one for us to overcome."

Jamall chuckled and nodded in agreement. "True, but I'd still like to make it up to you somehow." He suggested.

Tigress paused a moment and thought. He was probably thinking of taking her to lunch or something along those lines. But she had a little surprise in store for the lion. "Alright, you may 'make it up to me'… By sparring with me."

Now it was the lion's turn to pause. He had really not seen that coming, and yet, how could he have _not _seen it coming? She was a warrior after all, and most likely an excellent one at that. So, it made sense that she would always be on the lookout for a fresh sparring partner, to give her a change from her regular opponents. And unfortunately for him, he was definetly a fresh sparring partner.

Still, he wasn't about to pass up the chance to see such a beautiful and lithe tigress in action, and so nodded his head and spoke, "Sure, why not?" He replied, following after Tigress as she turned and beckoned for him to follow, as she made her way out of the Gauntlet of Wooden Warriors.

One thing was certain, and that was that one of the two cats was going to walk away from the fight with newfound respect for the other.

_**~Meanwhile, in the Village~**_

"Psst, hey! It's way past sunrise, time to get up!" Jinhai whispered, gently prodding the dozing tiger, Jiang, with a single finger. The carpenter just mumbled in his sleep and groggily batted away the offensive, poking hand, and rolled over, hiding his face in a pillow.

"C'mon Jiang! Mom needs a babysitter for Bai!" The mountain cat spoke a little louder this time, and resorted to pushing Jiang's shoulder with an open palm.

The striped cat groaned and twitched a little, but otherwise showed no signs of waking up. "Fine, you leave me with no other option." Jinhai smirked as he took a few steps away from the sleeping male's bed and snatched a cup of water off his nightstand. "One wet Amur Tiger, comin' right up."

Unlike Zeng, who had very nearly done the same thing to Master Tigress not to long ago, Jinhai had absolutely no qualms about dousing the striped cat. Without giving the tiger even a moment to come around on his own, Jinhai thrust his hand forward, violently dispelling the liquid contents of the ceramic cup, and sending a rough barrage of heavy water droplets flying through the air towards the sleepyhead's chest.

The assault found it's mark, thouroughly dousing the tiger's bare upper body. Almost the moment the chilly substances soaked Jiang's thick fur, he let out a shocked yelp and jerked upright with such force that he literally threw himself out of bed and tumbled to the floor.

"'The bloody hell was that!?" Jiang sputtered, growling slightly as he forced his wet and now-sore body to pick itself up. His answer didn't come in the form of words, but rather, in the uncontrollable laughter coming from behind him. The tiger, dressed only in a loose-fitting garment that could best be described as navy-blue boxer shorts, whipped around and scowled at the teenaged mountain cat who seemed to find something amusing in the way the water gods had just launched a cruel and vicious ambush assault against the tiger, and in his own home, no less!

"Jinhai…" He sighed, folding his damp arms over his sopping wet chest. "This had better be good, otherwise I'm punting you clear across the Valley of Peace."

The teen didn't put much stock in Jiang's threat, and just kept laughing and snickering for a moment longer, before he pulled himself together and stated the reasoning for the oh-so-rude awakening. "Sorry Jiang." He said, barely able to restrain a snicker as he stared at the way the water had slicked down Jiang's muzzle fur and was beading up on his whiskers and strands of his chin fur, before dripping off onto his chest and the floor below. "We really need you to watch Bai for a couple hours. Mom's got to work, and she doesn't trust me to keep track of the little devil while I go about my day, so… She was kind of hoping that you would keep him entertained for a while."

"It's not nice to refer to your baby brother as a little devil, y'know." Jiang helpfully pointed out.

"Even when it's the truth?"

The tiger chuckled, then shook his head as he looked down at his feet for a moment. "Point taken. While it goes against my better judgment… Sure, I'll watch the little rascal for your mother. Just give me a bit to get dressed and dry off."

Jinhai nodded and departed the bedroom, shutting the door behind him. He did not leave the area, however, and leaned against the door's frame as he spoke through it to Jiang.

"Thanks. And hey, have you heard about the rash of burlaries here in the Village?"

A muffled thump and some cursing, followed by the sound of something being struck rather hard, was heard within the room, presumably caused by Jiang dropping something and kicking it across the room. "No, I haven't heard anything about that. Care to clue me in?" The tiger responded, as he started rifling through his clothes for a clean set of work clothes. He did have to go and deal with the Magistrate later, and he wasn't going to show up in informal clothing when he might well have to make good on his threat of ripping apart the stalls he had built for the annoying swine.

"There's this thief who's been hitting villages all outside the Valley of Peace for the past… Oh, nearly a year now. He, or she, started up in a little village in the mountains, up near Chor-Gohm prision. Since then, the thief has been moving on to a new village, about once a month. Nobody knows who or what this guy is, he's never been seen. The only thing anybody knows is that he is really good at what he does, and his pattern of thefts have been bringing him towards the Valley of Peace for nearly a year. Judging by the rate at which things started disappearing last week, everyone's guessing he's here now."

"You'd think a village guard would've caught him by now. Ah, well, I wouldn't worry about it. You know how these things go here, right? He'll be around for a few more days, then Master Shifu will sic the Furious Five on him, and it'll all be over." Jiang replied, as he dried off his fur with a worthless old shirt, and then slipped into his chosen clothing for the day.

"Yeah, if the Furious Five can even _find_ the guy. He's like a ghost, Jiang. I'm serious, it's kind of creepy. The one time a guard managed to catch him in the middle of the act, the thief paralyzed the poor watchman right on the spot with, like, a single blow. All he reported seeing was a black cloak, a flash of sharp fangs and claws under said cloak, and then everything just went dark."

Jiang laughed from inside the room as he buttoned up his shirt and cinched up the belt securing his pants. "C'mon Jinhai, you know most of those guards make that stuff up to cover up their own incompetence. That watchman probably just got drunk out of his mind and made that story up on the spot when his watch commander caught him passed out at his duty post. Seriously, whoever this guy is, he's nothing to worry about." He answered, as he opened the door and strode past Jinhai.

"Yeah, I guess you're right…" The mountain cat sighed, as he turned on his heel and followed after the older male as he headed downstairs. "But aren't you the least concerned about your stuff? I mean, what if he tries to rip off your place next? It's isolated enough that I bet he wouldn't think twice about stealing from you."

"It'd be the last mistake he'd ever make." Jiang stated idly.

"What'd you do, hit him in the head with a hammer until his head looked like mashed strawberries?"

"Precisely. It's not that hard, the first swing disorients, the second incapacitates, and the third kills. Unless you're using a sledge and you've got a lot of upper-body strength, in which case the first tends to shatter the skull, and the second will spla…"

"Yuck! Okay, okay I think I've heard enough. Thanks Jiang, but I just ate, and I'm kinda happy keeping my breakfast right where it is now." Jinhai cut him off, making a disgusted face as he walked. "You've really got a sick imagination to dream up stuff like that, you know?" He commented, as they left the house and Jiang locked the doors behind them.

"You have _no_ idea, Jinhai."

It wasn't Jiang's imagination that allowed him to envision how such an act of violence would work out, though. In his past life, before he came to the Valley of Peace, he had seen - and committed - more than his fair share of gruesome and bloody displays of violence. Granted, what he did was done in the best interests of justice and honor, but that did not make his acts weigh any less on his conscience. But that life was behind him now; the only thing he used his hands for now was for peaceful labor. And he was infinetly happier that way.

The pair walked in silence the rest of the way to Liu's home, where the pleasant Seamstress and her enthusiastic little son, Bai, were waiting outside. Little Bai was the spitting image of his brother, from head to toe, and like his brother, he had devilishly handsome dark blue eyes, which the two brothers inherited from their deceased father. Unlike Jinhai's eyes, though, little Bai's eyes were constantly alight with a tell-tale sparkle that told of all manner of mischief and playful antics that the little boy had in mind for his next outing.

But, all in all, he was an adorable cub and could be a sweetheart when he wanted to be. Which, unfortunately, was not all that often. Perhaps that was to be expected of a six-year-old cub, though.

"JI!" The boy cried excitedly, when he caught sight of the Amur Tiger. The little boy, barely even three feet high, charged right at Jiang with his arms open wide to snare the striped cat with. Jiang just laughed and dropped to one knee, opening his arms wide as the boy rushed up to him, and wrapping his strong arms around the cub and hugging him tight when Bai tackle-hugged him.

He kept a hold of the boy as he rose to his feet, causing Bai to squee as he was suddenly lifted into the air and suspended there.

"Thanks for coming on such short notice, Jiang. I really appreciate it." Liu said, smiling at the tiger as she clasped her hands in front of her.

"Always a pleasure to watch kiddo here." He replied, returning Liu's smile with a pleasant one of his own.

The seamstress chuckled and shook her head. "Thank you anyways Jiang, I owe you one. I'll try to finish work as soon as possible and come home for Bai."

Jiang shrugged and said, "No rush, Liu. Taking care of Bai is really no trouble at all."

She laughed and grinned at Jiang as if he were mad. Jinhai did the same. "If you say so. See you later, Jiang!"

The two mountain cats took off towards the village, leaving Jiang alone to take care of Bai. "Well, what do you want to do today, kiddo?" He asked, as he set the boy down and then gazed down at him.

"Let's build a treehouse! I saw another kid who had one, and I think it'd be really cool if we had our own secret treehouse!" The boy exclaimed enthusiastically, trailing after Jiang like a lost puppy as the tiger started off towards his home.

"Oh, I think we ought to wait for your mom's permission before we go slapping up forts in every tree in the neighborhood. Any other ideas come to mind?" Jiang said in an amused tone.

He glanced back at Bai as they walked, grinning at the cub's deeply furrowed brow as the boy concentrated on trying to decide what he wanted to do. "How about we… Build a dam in the creek. Or… Ooh, I know, I know! Let's play hide-and-seek, and then build a dam!" He suggested eagerly.

"Sure, we can do that. But as I don't want to search the entire valley for you, let's just play hide-and-seek on my property, okay?"

Bai grinned and then streaked ahead towards Jiang's property, heading directly for the small stone building in which Jiang's forge was placed, while shouting back at Jiang, "You hide and I'll seek!"

"Just count to sixty, as usual!" The tiger called back, smiling as he watched the boy make a beeline straight into the shack.

'_Kids. Gotta love 'em.' _He thought with a chuckle, as he he leisurely padded up to his home, pausing only to spare a glance towards the shack, where Bai was facing a wall and appeared to be counting down.

He smirked and shook his head, then moved up the front door of his home… Which, curiously enough, was open by just a crack. "Funny, I thought I closed this…" He muttered to himself, as he opened the door and stepped inside, shutting it behind him.

He knew his house was the first place Bai would check, and he wasn't intent on making it hard for the cub. He'd just tuck into the closet built under the staircase leading upstairs and hide there.

Jiang approached the closet he intended on hiding in and placed a single paw on the hinged door's handle. Without any warning whatsoever, the closet door flew open with great force, slamming into the tiger and knocking him clean off his feet.

Before he could even begin to come close to landing on the floor, a black-garbed creature sprang out of the closet and pounced him, two massive paws colliding with his shoulders and driving him into the floor with brutal force. The assault knocked the wind out of the tiger, and even if that had not deterred the tiger from trying to defend himself against his assailant, the razor-sharp curved blade he found pressed to his throat certainly left no illusions as to what would happen should he struggle. As if that were not message enough, his assailant hissed in a gravelly voice, "So much as a mewl out of you, tiger, and I will silence you for good."

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

[O.o Talk about a horrible cliffhanger, no? Wonder who that pesky ol' thief is... *Muses*

Now, time for some replies to reviews! All 2 of them. lol.

**corset-rebellion-follower: **Lol, I would imagine Tigress might just hunt yah down if you kidnapped her Jiang. xD Anywho, I'm glad this story held your interest, and that Jamall and Liu have your interest - and your suspicions - as well. And yay, another TLK fan! I 3 Simba and Nala so much, even if I can't play Simba worth a darn in a role-play. I always botch his character. xP

Thankies for the heads-up on the Palace Messenger's name, I'm going to have to remember that for next time. *Kicks self*

**tiger lilly: **Why thank you. I do my best to cute-ify them, glad I'm succeeding so far. ^_^

--==--==--

And now, for a few shout-outs to some great sites and stories for your reading enjoyment while you wait on slow ol' me for an update!

Firstoff, for good reads, I wholeheartedly recommend anything by corset-rebellion-follower. While I haven't had the pleasure of reading all her works, the ones I've read so far I've loved, and I can't wait to read more.

Also, I recommend Luna Goldsun's KFP fics, especially her work, 'That's Why They call It The Present' and the related shorts and shuffles that go with it. Plenty of humor, romance, and drama, all mixed up into one!

Now, for the addresses of a couple pretty good sites with Role-playing sections to frequent, check out my Profile here on ! It's pretty bare aside from the addresses, though. xP

/End shameless advertising plugs

Anyways, thanks for reading and bearing with me through all this, and I hope to update again in the near future! For now, I depart, and leave you with links to check out and stories to search for! ^_^


	6. Chapter 5

[A/N:

I'M NOT DEAD!!! w00t

I bet it sure seemed like it though, for how long this was on an unannounced hiatus, which I'm really sorry for. I got really busy, lost interest in writing, college started, and a whole slew of other things I don't care to get started on. I'll try to get back into posting updates more or less regularly for this. Also, apologies for the lower quality of this chapter. I feel kinda like the dialogue and interactions between our mystery thief and Jiang are a bit wooden, so let me know what you think plz. ^_^

Anywho, on to 8,000 or so words of fan fiction goodness! xD ]

"_So much as a mewl out of you, tiger, and I will silence you for good." _

Jiang's heart was proud and his spirit that of a fighter. The mere suggestion of following the forcefully imposed will of another made the Amur Tiger's blood boil, but in the situation, he had little choice. The black-cloaked creature that had pounced him was more heavily built than he, and the blade the robed assailant held assured Jiang that any resistance on his part would end in the floors of his home being re-stained with his own blood. So, he simply nodded once, to wordlessly say that he would be silent.

"Ah, so Stripey is obedient. Good." Jiang's ambusher rumbled, in the same gravelly and masculine voice as before. The thief was a male, of that, there was no doubt. "I'm going to slowly stand and take a step away. I want you to follow suit. Don't try anything, unless you care to discover that my aim with throwing knives is unerring."

The tiger slowly rose to his feet after the other male had risen, taking care to move slowly and cautiously as to not give the robed male any reasons to launch an assault. As much as he would love to rend his attacker limb from limb, he had no idea as to the physical capabilities of the robed male, and as such, it seemed to be a wiser course of action to wait until he had a better idea of what he was dealing with.

As soon as he was on his feet, the cloaked thief stepped up behind him and looped one arm around his neck, seizing him. Before Jiang could even think about squirming out of the other male's grasp, he felt the tip of the blade at the small of his back, directly over his spine.

"If you would like to maintain the use of your lower body, I'd advise against struggling. Now, where do you keep your food and medicine?"

While Jiang had no doubts as to the sincerity of the threat, the male's demand for food and medicine made the tiger pause for a moment. Both were somewhat… Unusual items for a thief to be attempting to acquire. Food was likely impossible to fence, simply because it was borderline worthless as a black-market item, though admittedly, medicine did have some value on the black market, but not as much as precious metals or jewels.

Just as his mind was attempting to discern some clue as to the reason this thief was after such seemingly unusual items, Jiang's other senses -namely, his sense of smell- was already providing a hint. The unmistakable scent of freshly applied liniment emanated from underneath the thin cloth shrouding the arm his captor had wrapped around his neck, telling Jiang that his captor was injured.

"Well, where's the food and medicine, Stripey?" The thief asked, but in a slight breach of the armed-robber stereotype, he did not emphasize his words with a gentle press of the knife or a squeeze of the captive tiger's neck. Not that Jiang would complain about the broken stereotype.

"Both are in the kitchen. The food's in the pantry, the medicine is in a cupboard tucked into the corner next to the pantry."

"Show me. Medicine first." The thief ordered gruffly.

Jiang complied with the cloaked being's command, and started slowly padding forward towards the kitchen, with his captor keeping right in step along with him. Despite the awkwardness of having to move as if he were a… 'Meat shield' of sorts, Jiang managed to move at a decent clip without tripping or stumbling as he led the thief through the simple little dining area and into the kitchen.

As he walked, another worry - one unrelated to his captor - entered his mind. Bai. There was no way to predict when or where the cub might make his appearance within the house. The boy could pop into Jiang's home in five seconds or in five minutes; there was no way to tell. And when Bai saw the robed figure, would he panic? Or would he just assume that Jiang had a menacing, black-robed, knife-wielding friend that the tiger had never bothered telling anyone about?

Knowing Bai, Jiang was willing to assume that the boy would innocently presume the latter to be true.

"There, that's the cupboard where I keep the medicine." Jiang said, pointing out the cupboard as they entered the kitchen. It was an elegantly simple thing, standing exactly at Jiang's height and being roughly three feet wide. It was made of solid oak, and built to last a dozen lifetimes and appear beautiful for every single year of those lifetimes.

"Exactly how much medicine do you need, Stripey? That's a lot of cabinet for one man's medicine."

"Only the top two shelves have medicine." Jiang explained, as he was gently pushed along to in front of the cupboard. "The other shelves hold linens, cloths, and some other miscellaneous kitchen stuff."

His captor sighed heavily and muttered something under his breath. Apparently, he was not exactly happy to hear that there was not a huge stock of medicine hidden within the cabinet. What had he been expecting? Jiang was a simple carpenter with no family of his own, and as such, the tiger didn't waste his money stockpiling medicine he would never need. After all, medicine was expensive, and there were other things he would rather spend the money on.

"Open the cupboard. I want to see what I have here."

Jiang complied with the order and swung open the cupboard's doors. As he had said, only the top two shelves bore medicine. Labeled and lid-covered clay bowls, each no bigger than an apple in size, were scattered about the shelves amidst a handful of stopper-capped bottles and brown paper packages that contained one medicinal herb or another. A old-looking wood box of acupuncture needles sat on the lower of the two shelves, and next to it were some extremely simple medical tools, a needle and thread for stitching up wounds, and of course, two rolls of bandages.

"There. Those two liniments, the one for dulling pain and the other one, for preventing infections. Give me those." His captor commanded while removing his arm from around Jiang's neck and holding his hand out over the tiger's shoulder, palm-up as he expectantly waited to be given the two reddish-brown lidded bowls he asked for.

The tiger once again did as he was told and plucked the first of the two bowls off the shelf, and then placed it in his captor's waiting hand. The other male slipped the securely sealed container into some unseen pouch hidden amongst his robes, then once again held his hand out to receive the other container.

Just as Jiang began to place the second of the clay bowls into the male's hand, he noticed the color of the somewhat coarse fur covering the thief's hand. It was dark gray in color, with a couple spots on the back of the wrist. The fur lightened as it neared the wrist, and likely remained a lighter gray all the way to the shoulder or beyond, though confirming that was impossible due to the robes covering the arm.

If he were forced to make a wager on the matter, he would guess that his captor was a snow leopard. No other being he had ever encountered was colored in such a manner. Now armed with knowledge of the thief's gender, race, and injured state, Jiang decided to pipe up.

"You're injured. That's why you need the medicine, right?" He asked, as he placed the clay bowl into the leopard's waiting hand.

"That's not your concern."

"If there's a chance that your wounded leopard ass could drop dead in my kitchen, then it is my concern. As boring as my daily life is, I really would rather not spice it up by having to explain to the village magistrates why I have a dead man in my home." Jiang quipped. The tiger's words were rewarded by the leopard grabbing his shoulder and forcefully turning him around, then slamming him back into the cupboard with just enough force to cause its contents to shake and rattle.

"Then I would suggest saving the snarky comments for later and focusing on helping me to get what I want, Stripey. The sooner I have what I need, the sooner I'll leave, and you can stop worrying about my potential demise." The leopard growled, bringing his muzzle to within inches of Jiang's to intimidate the tiger. Just as fate would have it, though, the thief's attempt at intimidation brought his face into just the right spot for a ray of light, creeping in from the ajar kitchen window, to splash across the male's shrouded face.

While before, the leopard's eyes were well hidden in the shadows cast upon them by his garments, the soft sunlight decided to operate in a rather mysterious fashion, and caught the thief's eyes _just_ right. As a result, the leopard's warm golden-yellow eyes shone brightly, and were plainly visible to the soft brown orbs of the tiger the thief held captive.

The sight of the thief's eyes caused Jiang's heart to freeze in mid-beat and his jaw to slacken ever so slightly, as his eyes widened for a brief moment. He had only seen eyes like the leopard's once before in his life. That was just around one year ago, when Tai Lung had escaped from Chor-Gohm prison and gone berserk -again- in his mad quest for the Dragon Scroll.

That crazed leopard had charged past him and the small band of refugees he was evacuating the valley with. Tai Lung paused for the shortest of moments as he passed the little group, staring intently at the tiger for a split-second before continuing on to his destination. Perhaps the reason he had momentarily caught the leopard's attention was because out of all the refugees, Jiang was the only one who stood tall and stared right back at Tai Lung, completely unafraid of the maniacal leopard. Admittedly, his bravery likely had something to do with the fact that he knew Tai Lung wasn't going to wait around to beat up some random villagers when the Dragon Scroll was so close.

After a few moments of stunned silence had passed, Jiang pulled himself together and spoke as calmly and fearlessly as he had addressed that horribly annoying pig magistrate not too long ago. "You are supposed to be dead, Tai Lung."

Tai Lung chuckled tiredly. "As much as I appreciate your little news flash, Stripey, it's about a year too late." He replied, as he released Jiang and took a step back, subtly moving his blade so that it caught the light and shimmered, reminding the tiger that he was up against an armed and exceedingly dangerous opponent should he try to play the hero.

"And a thousand years too early, if you ask me." Jiang stated. The leopard just chuckled once more as he shed the layers of black fabric concealing his face and pulled back his hood, allowing his facial features, darkened by exhaustion and dirt, to come into the tiger's view. Jiang knew who he was already, there was no sense hiding himself any longer. But, just as his face was revealed, so was his weariness. If one looked hard enough, one could see that the leopard's stores of physical and emotional strength were all but completely spent, and that Tai Lung's strong front was just that; a front. He was still a dangerous foe however, as experience told Jiang that exhaustion and desperation can turn one into a truly ferocious fighter, if only for a brief time.

"I could have guessed that you would say that." Tai Lung said, as he took a few steps back and to the left, then reached out for the door to the kitchen pantry with his free hand while keeping an eye on Jiang. He slid open the pantry's sliding door and snatched up a handful of plain rice cakes, while at the same time commenting on the relative emptiness of the tiger's pantry. "You don't have much food, do you?"

"No." Jiang lightly bit his lower lip for a moment as he studied Tai Lung. The leopard's motions weren't anywhere near as fluid as he had imagined they would be. They were still quick and efficient, just as he expected Tai Lung to move, but something was off. His movements were somewhat jerky, as if he was hesitating slightly here and there. Perhaps his body was sore and moving caused him pain? It would make sense, since he seemed to be injured. Or perhaps he hadn't eaten in a long while and was shaky as a result. On the other hand, it could be a distinctly unpleasant combination of both. After watching the leopard scarf down two of the rice cakes he had grabbed, Jiang was willing to say it was hunger taking its toll on the leopard.

And, as much as he hated himself for admitting it, he felt sorry for Tai Lung. He had been in a similar physical state to the leopard's when he first arrived in the Valley of Peace, and if it hadn't been for the kindness of Liu and her late husband who took him into their home and cared for him without question, he would not have survived that first winter in the Valley.

"How long has it been since you've last eaten, Tai Lung?" The tiger asked, watching as the leopard devoured yet another rice cake. "A day? Two days?"

"I ate the last of my food one week ago." The leopard replied, speaking around the chunks of rice cake in his mouth.

"A week?" Jiang repeated, slightly arching one eyebrow at the leopard. No wonder Tai Lung was shaky. He became shaky and irritable after a day without food, he couldn't imagine what seven days without any sort of sustenance would be like for him. "You're going to need more than just rice cakes. Check the top shelf of the pantry. I think there's some smoked fish left up there."

Tai Lung looked surprised by Jiang's words, but he wordlessly reached up to the top shelf of the pantry and felt around for a moment, until his fingertips grazed a mid-sized wooden box, roughly a half a foot long by half a foot wide. The leopard grabbed the box and pulled it down, then slid the top of the box out. Just as Jiang had said, there were fillets of smoked fish tucked inside. Tai Lung sheathed his dagger and snatched a fillet out of the box, then plopped it into his mouth, eagerly wolfing down the fish just as quickly as he had downed the rice cakes.

The tiger silently watched as what was left of the box's contents was consumed by Tai Lung as the starving leopard sated his hunger. He really could not think of anything to say and besides, interrupting the eating feline did not seem terribly wise to Jiang, never mind the fact that it wouldn't be a very considerate thing to do.

Therefore, he refrained from speaking further, at least until the leopard replaced the now-empty box in its spot in the pantry. "Feeling any better now that you've eaten?"

"Why do you care?" Tai Lung answered with a question of his own. One of his eyebrows was slightly arched as he stared at the tiger, a hint of inquisitiveness present in his eyes. A few moments of awkward silence passed, as Jiang stared right back at him, muzzle slightly agape as if he were trying to think of something to say, but couldn't.

After a short time, the leopard decided that he did not care why Jiang- unlike pretty much everyone else in the valley- didn't seem to want to watch him suffer a horrible and agonizing death, and so responded to 'Stripey's' query. There was no harm in answering such a innocent question, after all. "To answer your question, I feel… Better. At least I am no longer hungry." Tai Lung stated, as he motioned towards the same table that Jiang and Liu had sat at yesterday afternoon. "Take a seat, Stripey."

"I'd rather stand, thanks."

"That was not a request." The leopard stated coolly while curling his paws into fists.

The tiger got the message, and took a seat at the same chair Liu had 'stolen' from him yesterday.

"Hands behind the back of the chair." The robed cat commanded, as he produced a length of sturdy cord from yet another concealed pouch worn under his clothes, and moved around to the back of the chair. He roughly bound Jiang's hands together at the wrist with the cord, then produced two more lengths of cord, with the intent of tying the striped feline's ankles to the chair's legs. He wasn't going to risk the tiger getting away and warning the village of his presence, at least, not until after he had a chance to go through with his plan. Once his goal was accomplished, he couldn't care less if Jiang told the entire world that the leopard was still alive and kicking.

He grabbed the chair and turned the tiger around, so that he was facing away from the table, and then settled onto one knee in front of the chair and reached for the tiger's right ankle. Just as he began to loop the cord around Jiang's ankle, he heard the front door of the home slam open, startling him.

The leopard started to turn his head about to peek over his shoulder, to see if he could steal a glimpse of whoever was in the house, but he was cut short by a swift kick to the jaw by the newly emboldened tiger. Jiang had been hoping and praying Tai Lung would leave before Bai stumbled into the house, but now that the cub had entered the household and was searching for him, the tiger was left with no choice but to make use of the opening presented to him when the spotted cat started trussing him up.

Tai Lung was flipped over onto his back by the force of the kick, but in his weakened state, he was unable to move quick enough to even attempt to block the carpenter's follow-up attack. He had only just begun to lift his arms to block as he watched the heel of the tiger's foot come streaking down towards his face, then his world went black, as the foot - propelled by Jiang's powerful leg muscles - collided with his head, right between his eyes.

A stifled groan slipped from the now-unconscious leopard's muzzle, much to Jiang's relief. "Well, that was easier than I thought it'd be. Either he's weaker than he looks, or I'm stronger than I thought. I think I'll presume the former to be correct." Jiang muttered to himself, as he slowly stood up, working his bound wrists off the back of the chair as he rose.

He could hear Bai's footsteps rapidly approaching the kitchen. There was no time to hide Tai Lung; he had to do something else to conceal the leopard. So, he did the only thing he could think of. He stepped over the dozing leopard, and unceremoniously sat down on him, and draped his tail over Tai Lung's face, to hide it from view. And just in time, too, as little Bai came marching into the kitchen, a triumphant grin plastered across his muzzle as he proudly declared, "I found you!"

"Yes you did!" Jiang replied, smiling at the cub and shifting slightly atop Tai Lung to take some of his weight off the leopard's chest, to make breathing easier for the injured feline.

"So, now you count, and I hide! So start countin', and no peeki… Hey, what'cha sitting on, Jiang?" Bai asked, jabbing one of his little fingers in the general direction of the black blob Jiang was perched atop. Luckily, Tai Lung's robes had fallen in such a manner as to make him look like little more than a big pile of used linens with a black sheet tossed across the top, and so the cub was unable to guess as to the true nature of what Jiang sat on.

"Aw, it's nothing. Just some clothes and sheets I forgot to wash. Go on outside and hide. I'm going to start counting!" Jiang replied with an idle shrug, as he closed his eyes and tilted his head down, and started slowly counting down from sixty. His ruse worked as intended, and before he had even counted off three seconds, Bai had virtually vanished into thin air, with only the slam of the front door providing aural evidence that the boy had left the house.

With the cub gone, Jiang was left with a new set of problems. Namely, what to do with Tai Lung, and how to get his wrists loose. He struggled with the latter problem for a moment, until he remembered the dagger Tai Lung was wearing. It took some effort, but Jiang managed to locate and retrieve the blade from under the leopard's robes, and with a bit of crafty maneuvering, he cut the cords tying his wrists together,

Now that he was no longer restrained, he threw the dagger into a support beam above the kitchen sink to temporarily dispose of it, burying the blade an inch into the hardwood beam with the quick throw. Jiang then rose to his feet and hefted Tai Lung over his shoulder as though the leopard were a sack of grain. "By the Ancestors! You're one heavy cat!" The tiger grumbled, as he lugged Tai Lung to the stairs and dragged the unconscious leopard upstairs.

He carried Tai Lung into the first of the two unfurnished bedrooms, and gently laid the leopard face-down atop the only piece of furniture in the room: The old, mattress-less bed frame.

Luckily, the frame was made with slats running from one side to the other to help support a mattress, and thus, it was perfect for laying Tai Lung upon. After securing a bit of rope, Jiang securely lashed Tai Lung's wrists and ankles to the four corners of the bed frame, taking great care to ensure that the leopard would be mostly unable to jerk free.

But due to the leopard's strength, he couldn't rely on the rope alone to hold him down. Even in his current condition, Tai Lung might still be powerful enough to tear himself free. And so, Jiang made a quick trip downstairs, and returned bearing the box of acupuncture needles. His intent was to use the needles and his limited knowledge of acupuncture to temporarily paralyze Tai Lung, at least long enough for Jiang to get Bai back to his mother.

He tugged the leopard's robes off the unconscious feline's upper torso and laid the excess clothing over Tai Lung's lower body as if it were a blanket. The tiger then turned his gaze back to the leopard's now-bared back, only for his eyes to widen as he saw the liniment-soaked bandages wrapped about Tai Lung's body here and there. "He must be using the liniments to kill the pain… Whatever the Wu Xi Finger Hold did to him, it was brutal. Either that or he got himself injured somewhere along the lines while returning to the valley." He thought aloud, as he popped open the box of needles with one hand, whilst feeling along Tai Lung's spine and the muscles of his back with his other hand.

A few minutes of probing with his fingers later, and the tiger had located several key Qi points in Tai Lung's body, and carefully inserted needles into each. If he had inserted the needles into the right points, then the leopard was going to be helpless until they were removed. At least, that was what he hoped would happen.

Jiang took a few minutes to ensure his handiwork would hold and that the leopard wasn't going anywhere, and then took his leave of the room, shutting and locking the bedroom's door behind him. Now it was time to find Bai, and keep him entertained for a while, until Liu returned for the cub.

And after that, he was going to have to figure out how he was going to deal with his 'guest'.

_**~Meanwhile, at the Jade Palace~ **_

Tigress crouched low to duck a sweeping punch from her sparring partner - the lion known as Jamall - and launched a series of counterattacks starting with a simple uppercut blow and ending with a fanciful twirling kick. Much to her dismay and surprise, her opponent deflected every single one of her attacks just as gracefully as she was dodging and blocking his strikes. This was the way it had gone for nearly the entire fifteen minutes that had elapsed since their sparring session began, with the powerfully-built Jamall effortlessly blocking and deflecting almost all of Tigress's strikes, while the lithe Tigress elegantly evaded many of his blows with acrobatic maneuvers.

Tigress had started with a slight initial advantage over Jamall. The lion was slightly apprehensive about attacking her as he would another male, due to her relatively small frame and his overwhelming strength, not to mention the fact that he was taken aback by the grace and raw power of her moves. But after receiving a particularly painful kick to his chest that landed him on his tail-end, the lion reached the conclusion that Tigress was just as tough as he was, and thus took off the proverbial kid gloves. Mostly, anyways. He still held back a considerable degree of his strength, for fear of unintentionally injuring her should he put his massively powerful frame to full use.

Despite that, Tigress had to completely change her view on the lion now that all traces of hesitation in his assaults had been erased. She had known he would be a challenging opponent thanks to her stealthy observation of the lion while he was in the training hall, fighting against the Gauntlet of Wooden Warriors. But she had certainly not been expecting him to be such an even match for herself. It was uncanny, really. Like he could read her mind and tell exactly what move she was going to use next and block accordingly, and likewise, she was able to predict his next course of action and react properly.

Simply put, there were in a stalemate. Or perhaps a 'Battle of Attrition' would be a better description of their fight. Unless one of the two slipped up and allowed the other to gain an advantage, it was going to boil down to whichever warrior had greater physical stamina. And as much as Tigress hated to admit it, the ease and quickness of the movements of Jamall's muscular body told her that he was not going to slow down anytime soon, whereas she was unsure of how much longer she could keep up fighting before she would begin to slow down.

Perhaps, like Tai Lung, he had trained with heavy weights tied to his limbs and body for an extended period of time, to build endurance. And perhaps the middle of a fight was not the most prudent time to be thinking of how the lion came to possess such stamina.

Likewise, Jamall was having similar thoughts. The lion had known that females were usually more agile than males, and that held true in this fight. Tigress's supple frame allowed her to nimbly dodge his best attacks, and she seemed to possess infinite energy. How else could any creature move so quickly and elegantly, and launch attack after attack, with each blow as strong and precise as the last?

He, like her, was worried he'd run out of strength long before his sparring partner tired.

However, unlike Tigress, he knew exactly how long he could continue the non-stop fighting before he would have to either slow down or pause. And unfortunately for Tigress, that time was a long ways off.

"I am beginning to think…" Jamall began, whilst blocking a strike from Tigress's fist with his forearms, and launching a retaliatory open-palmed blow at her sternum. "That we might consider calling this a draw!" He finished, as Tigress twisted out of the way of his attack.

"We are very evenly matched…" Tigress mused, while evading another set of assaults from the lion. "But that just makes things interesting!" She stated, launching a hook kick at Jamall's right flank with her left leg.

Much to her dismay, Jamall did not simply block the strike, but allowed it to land, and then seized her leg by tightly grabbing her lower thigh with his hand and squeezing her lower leg against his frame with his forearm. "Interesting is good, but I don't want to exhaust myself before the morning gong even has a chance to ring." He replied, smirking as Tigress briefly struggled to free her leg, blocking the few punches she sent his way with his free arm.

"You have a point." The striped warrior said, 'catching' Jamall's fist with both her hands as it sailed towards her face. The lion was undeterred however, and kept pushing with his fist, forcing her to maintain a tight grip on his hand to try to hold it back, lest he get in a blow on her head. It wasn't easy, though. He had as much muscle in that one arm as she had in both her arms, and she was visibly straining to hold him back. "Perhaps calling it a draw would be a good thing."

"So, now that I have you exactly where I want you, you want to call it a draw? Oh, I see how this works, Tigress." Jamall teased, a grin forming on his ruggedly handsome features as he relaxed his arm, allowing Tigress to stop having to fight back for the moment.

"I have no idea what you're implying, Jamall. I simply see the logic of calling it a draw and saving our strength." Tigress replied in an equally joking tone.

The lion laughed softly. "Yeah, right." He said, as he slowly released Tigress, taking care to give her plenty of time to steady herself before he fully released her, and took a half-step backwards.

Tigress chuckled and smiled at Jamall. The lion was somewhat sweaty, with his fur noticeably dampened around his face, chest, back, and around a few other areas, but overall he didn't look like he had exerted himself much. Rather, he looked more like he had stood inside a room that was several degrees to hot for him. She, on the other hand, felt like she was sweaty and overheated as a result of the vigorous sparring match, and the desire to jump in a cold body of water and clean up was almost overwhelming.

That could wait for later, though. She had a feeling that by the time the day was done, she would be much, much filthier than she was at the moment.

"That was an excellent spar, Jamall. Thank you." Tigress said, as she folded her arms across her chest and looked up at the lion. While it was the norm to bow and whatnot after a fight, she felt that such honorifics were… Unnecessary with the lion, especially considering the friendly nature of the spar. However, if he saw fit to bow, then she would do the same.

Thankfully, he seemed to have thought the same way as she, and didn't bow. "No, thank you. It was an honor and a pleasure to spar with you. We'll have to do it again sometime soon."

Tigress nodded in agreement and gave the lion a cordial smile she usually reserved only for the other members of the Furious Five, Po, and most recently Jiang. "Perhaps later today we can spar against the rest of the Furious Five. You're excellent in one-on-one combat, but I would like to see how you work as part of a team."

"That sounds interesting. Sure. For now, though, I'm starting to get hungry. Do you think we have time to run to the…" Jamall was cut off when the morning gong sounded, prompting the lion's ears to perk. "Uh, that's _the_ morning gong, right?"

"Yes. We need to get back to the barracks." Tigress replied, mere moments before she burst into a run that took her out of the training hall. The lion gave chase, and barely managed to catch up with her as she dashed to the Barracks.

They arrived a mere moment before Master Shifu entered the barracks, but as the Red Panda stood between them and the Barracks, there was no way to get around him and into the barracks without him noticing. And even if there was such a way, they would never get a chance to access it, as the Master's extremely keen hearing detected their approach, causing him to turn around to face the pair of sweat-dampend felines.

"Good Morning Master Tigress. And Good Morning to you as well, Jamall. I assume by your somewhat disheveled state that you and Master Tigress have already had a sparring match."

Both Jamall and Tigress nodded. "Yes, we did."

"Might I ask, which of you won?" Shifu asked inquisitively. He honestly did not exepect to hear of anything less than a swift victory on Tigress's part; she was simply too good for most foes, and only China's most talented warriors, such as himself or Tai Lung, were able to beat her. And yet, she was greatly improving her fighting skills with each passing day. He suspected that she would be able to defeat him within the next year.

"We called it a draw after fifteen minutes. Though I suspect that had it gone on much longer, Jamall would have won." Tigress replied.

"I don't know about that, Master Tigress, the spar could easily have swayed in your favor." Jamall added in. While he had put Tigress on the defensive near the end of the sparring match, if he had learned one thing about her during their fight, it was that she was full of surprises. She could have easily made a comeback and put him on the defense.

Despite Jamall's somewhat modest statement, the revelations still put a shocked expression on Shifu's face, though he hid it after a split-second. Master Qingshan had hinted at Jamall's fighting prowess, after all. Perhaps this lion had as much potential as Qingshan's attitude towards Jamall seemed to imply.

"You… Nearly defeated Tigress?" Shifu asked, unable to conceal his surprise at the news. Even if he had been able to hide his surprise, that clichéd eye twitch of his would have given him away in a split second.

"Well, uh…" Jamall paused and looked over at Tigress, who didn't hesitate as she replied, "Yes. He had me at a distinct disadvantage near the end of our spar."

By now, the others inhabitants of the Barracks - who were used to Master Shifu actually entering the structure - had filtered towards the entrance and eased open the door, carefully stepping out as they listened to the exchange between the pair of felines and Master Shifu.

Their arrival was instantly noticed by Master Shifu, who - while still in a state of shock - turned about and instantly lifted Oogway's staff, pointing at each of the warriors in turn as he addressed them, rapidly dispensing orders in an effort to dispel the group as quickly as possible.

"Viper, Crane! To the training hall, I want you to spar, and keep an emphasis on speed and precision! Monkey, you are to train with Po on the Jade Tortoise. Po, no more ridiculous noises when you fight! Monkey, if he makes so much as a peep, I want you to shove him into the Gauntlet of Wooden Warriors! Mantis, I want you to continue working on Nerve Strikes with Tigress, but stay near the training hall so you can recruit Po as a training dummy should you need such a thing."

Shifu then turned and faced Jamall, jabbing the staff in the direction of the black-maned feline. "As for you, Jamall, I want a word with you. Come with me to the Hall of Heroes."

Jamall glanced over at Tigress as Shifu started off towards the Hall, while Po and four of the Furious Five started towards the training hall, per their instructions. Tigress just gave him a slight shrug, then walked off after the rest of the Five to train with Mantis. Jamall watched her for a few moments as she walked off, then ran one of his heavy hands through his black mane as he turned and padded off after Shifu, his long strides quickly closing the distance between himself and the diminutive master as he followed him towards the Hall of Heroes.

The red panda's total silence unnerved Jamall slightly. He had never been one for uncomfortable silences, especially when the silence was between him and whoever he was learning under. Perhaps Shifu was upset by the revelation that Jamall had come within a hair's breadth of defeating Tigress? That could be it, she was his star student from what the lion had heard.

He pushed those thoughts from his mind as the red panda pushed open the doors to the Hall of Heroes, and ushered Jamall inside before sealing the doors behind them. The Master gestured for Jamall to continue following, and so he did. Soon, they were standing at the Pool of Reflection, above which sat the Dragon Head that had, up until one year ago, held the Dragon Scroll safely within the embrace of its jaws.

"So… You wished to speak with me, Master Shifu?" Jamall finally asked, after several moments of silence passed.

"Yes. If you are powerful enough to fight Master Tigress to a standstill, something no-one but myself and Tai Lung have ever accomplished, then I should like to learn more about how you came to possess such skill. Sit down, if you would. You're going to be here for quite some time..."

_**~Back in the Village~**_

How long had he been out? Minutes? Hours? Days?

There was no way for the leopard known as Tai Lung to tell.

He had only just woken up a few minutes ago, his head throbbing from the force of the kick he had received from that tiger he had tried to steal from. His entire body felt stiff as though he had been turned to stone. Paralyzed, just as he had been while imprisoned at Chor Gohm.

The pins he could feel piercing his back confirmed that. That tiger had paralyzed him, albeit temporarily. If he could flick the needles out of place with his tail, he could regain control of his body, and rip free of the simple cord restraining him. But when he tried to move his tail, he found that not only was it immobilized by the weight of his robes - which had been removed and laid over his lower body like bed sheets - but he could feel rope tied around the tip of his tail, holding it down.

He could scarcely believe it. How could he have allowed himself to be captured!? And by some villager, no less! It was humiliating! He should have been fast enough to block the brazen tiger's kick, should have known he would have tried something like that… But he didn't anticipate the sudden attack, and now he was uncomfortably restrained atop a mattress-less bed frame.

After pushing those thoughts away, he began to wonder where the tiger was now. He was probably getting a bunch of villagers to come and bludgeon the hapless leopard to death. Or going after the Furious Five and Dragon Warrior, or Master Shifu himself. None of those scenarios especially appealed to the restrained leopard.

No matter which group found him, he was assured of one thing: Death. If it were by the villagers, he suspected they'd burn the house down and him with it rather than try to beat or stab him. If it was the Furious Five, he suspected that Master Tigress - who was no doubt furious over how easily he had defeated her upon the Thread of Hope - would most likely snap his neck and be done with it. A nice, mercifully quick way to go. He'd take it over being burnt alive.

Master Shifu… He had a feeling that the red panda would condemn him to death by a thousand cuts, or have him drawn and quartered. Or a combination of the two. Either way, it wouldn't be pleasant. Then again, the diminutive panda might have mercy on him… Provided he had grown a heart in the year that had passed since Tai Lung's apparent death.

As for Po… He had no idea what the panda would do, but it probably involved the fat bear sitting on his head and mooshing him. The very idea of being squished underneath the pudgy panda disgusted Tai Lung. Even he deserved a better fate than that.

A dozen more worst-case scenarios ran through the stricken feline's mind, each scenario more gruesome and shudder-inducing than the last. By the time the final one ran through his mind, he could hear foot-falls on the wooden floor outside the room, steadily drawing closer and closer.

"_This is it." _Tai Lung thought, sighing softly as his eyes wandered over to the door, just barely visible in his periphial vision. _"They're coming for me. I'm not going to be able to finish what I have set out to do, what I have worked so hard to accomplish. It's all going to end, because of a single, simple mistake. I'm going to die a horrible, painful death, and I won't even be granted a last m…" _

Tai Lung's thoughts came to a screeching halt as the door slid open, and he heard the tiger's voice drift to his ears as the striped feline approached. "How long have you been up?" The tiger queried, as he knelt beside the bed where Tai Lung could get a good glimpse at the younger male's face and then plucked a single needle out of the base of the leopard's neck.

The removed needle had been responsible for immobilizing his neck and head, and from keeping him from speaking. After working his facial features for a second, as they were rather stiff from being frozen in a blank expression for so long, he looked up at the tiger and, after an uncomfortably long silence had passed, spoke. "Three minutes. Perhaps four."

"That means you've been out for… About five hours now. It's nearly noon. Either I hit you harder than I thought, or your body is exhausted. But judging from the shape you're in, I'd say the latter."

The battered leopard slightly parted his lips to fire a retort at the tiger, but he stopped himself. As much as he hated to admit it, the tiger was right. He was exhausted, not just physically, but mentally. The yearlong journey he had embarked upon after mysteriously surviving the Wu Xi Finger Hold had taken its toll on him. While he had long ago healed from the effects of the Wu Xi Finger Hold, various accidents and fights he had gotten into along his journey - most notably the rockslide that had landed him in the injured state he was in now - had kept him from recovering completely.

And as he was in such a weakened state, he felt that verbally attacking the striped cat was a very, very bad idea. "I'd say it was the former, spots. You kick too hard." Tai Lung complained, as he watched the tiger pull over a stool and sit down.

"Considering who you are, I'd say you're lucky I didn't kick harder, and even luckier that I'm helping you." Jiang replied calmly, as he began to change the bandages covering the wounds on Tai Lung's torso. The leopard hissed sharply, as the tiger's touch was a bit rougher than he had expected. "Are you trying to cause me pain?" Tai Lung muttered. He winched sharply as a bandage was pulled away, dried blood sticking between his fur and the linen and tearing lightly at the sore fur and flesh around the injury as a result.

The tiger merely shook his head as he started to clean the wounds using an alcohol-saturated cloth. Granted, it wasn't alcohol specifically made for cleansing wounds but rather hard liquor he had purchased in the village, but it would work and that's what counted. Tai Lung growled in pain, his eyes screwing shut and entire body tensing. "I'm trying to keep you from dying of infection." Jiang stated, as he rolled the leopard onto his side as much as the older feline's bonds would allow, and cleaned the wounds on the front of his torso. "Did you do those bandages yourself?"

Tai Lung just nodded in response.

"Why am I not surprised?" Jiang muttered, as he removed a poorly-applied bandage that had been crudely adhered into place over the snow cat's right pectoral muscle. "Feel free to criticize my medical skills once you've tried to patch yourself after having a mountain trail fall out beneath your feet, sending you plunging over a cliff."

"I'm quite happy criticizing you without jumping off a ledge, thanks." Jiang quipped while finishing up with the alcohol and applying fresh bandages where needed, save for a gash upon the leopard's back near his right shoulder, which would need to be stitched up better than the hasty patchwork job performed by Tai Lung.

He stitched up the gash and finished bandaging the leopard, then stood up and made his way towards a water-filled stone basin residing atop a short table near the room's door. As Jiang washed his hands, Tai Lung took a moment to think. Why was the tiger helping him? He had no reason to. In fact, he probably had every reason in the world just to kill Tai Lung and throw his rotting corpse into a river. Could the tiger feel pity for him? Or was Jiang simply one of those individuals with a surplus of compassion and mercy to dispense upon those in need?

Curiosity overtook the spotted cat's mind in mere moments, which lead to him asking; "Why are you helping me? And who are you?"

Jiang's reply wasn't entirely satisfactory. "I have my reasons." The amur tiger replied with an idle shrug. "Reasons solid enough for you to risk everything by harboring a…"

"A vicious and merciless madman wanted for razing this village once before and nearly doing it again a second time, and over a dozen counts of murder, not to mention attempting to steal the Dragon Scroll? If you want me to get cold and logical, I could do the smart thing and just turn you over to Shifu now, which would probably lead to you finding yourself executed, or worse, imprisoned again. Or if you'd prefer, I can continue ignoring that squealing little voice in the back of my head and keep trying to help you." Jiang interrupted.

"I'll take the latter."

"Thought so." The striped male replied with a soft chuckle as he finished washing his hands, and dried them off on a towel. "I'll be back to check up on you and bring you some food in a half-hour. Close your eyes and relax for a while, you're safe here." Jiang suggested as he left the room, closing the door behind him.

The tiger padded downstairs, a whirlpool of thoughts swirling in his mind. How was he going to handle this? Admittedly, his plan for Tai Lung hadn't extended very far past the 'Don't let Tai Lung die' stage. He was going to have to come up with a plan, and soon, and it'd all hinge on finding out what the leopard intended to do in the Valley of Peace. In the meantime, he was going to have to figure out how in the world he was going to keep the leopard hidden. He couldn't keep Tai Lung incapacitated forever; eventually he'd need to actually get up -like when he ate- and when that time came, there wouldn't be much to stop him from just taking off once those needles were plucked from his back.

But he'd have to deal with that later. For now, he needed to make some lunch, and pray to every Ancestor and god he could think of to keep anyone from paying him a visit for the next couple days. Especially Tigress.

[Wow, what's this? A lack of a cliffhanger at the end?! Oh my goodness, am I finally trying to shift away from horrible cliffhangers? Owait, there IS a cliffhanger with Jamall and Shifu. Bet you lot have already guessed where the next chapter will pick up, huh? ^_^

Anywho, on to some replies to reviews!

**Telracs1994**: Yup, it seems like we're heading for a love triangle. Or maybe a love square, if Liu does work her way into the mix. Or maybe a love polygon, now that Tai Lung is here! I suppose we'll just find out, won't we? xD

**corset-rebellion-follower**: As you have seen, your Fangirl side was correct. Tai Lung has been delivered right into the paws of our favorite striped protagonist… This could cause problems, no? Anywho, yush, Jamall's relationship to Tigress does seem rather suspicious, doesn't it? And it looks like Jiang might be skating on some VERY thin ice if Tigress finds out who he's harboring. Things might get interesting and fast, eh?

[BTW; YAY! I'm not the only one who isn't good at geometry. =D ]

**tiger lilly:** Looks like Jiang survived; I bet he got a kick out of how he made it out, too! See what I did thar? I'm so witty I make myself giggle like a Jonas Brothers/Twilight-loving schoolgirl on laughing gas. =P

And yuppers, it'll be interesting to see how our striped protagonist reacts to catching a hulking tank of a lion eyeballing his girl.

**Allavodka:** We shall see if a love square/polygon thingy appears. ^-^


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